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CSTPR and EDC graduate student, , and CU Environmental Engineering’s Sherri Cook were awarded one of the CU 2018 Research & Innovation (RIO) Seed Grant for their project “Resilient and Sustainable Sanitation Systems: Characteristics, Links, and Barriers”.

Resilient and Sustainable Sanitation Systems: Characteristics, Links, and Barriers
PI Sherri Cook, with these collaborators: CSTPR Director Max Boykoff, CSTPR Affiliate Amanda Carrico, Dr. Trisha Shrum

Globally, 2.3 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services, which results in serious negative impacts to human health, economic prosperity, and gender equality. Exacerbating this issue is that existing sanitation systems experience high failure rates, mostly due to (i) systems that are not sustainable, such as systems with single or integrated failures in the social, technical, economic, or institutional aspects; and (ii) systems that are not resilient, such as systems that are destroyed by natural disasters. While there is growing research linking together the various dimensions of sanitation system sustainability, literature has called for more research to better understand characteristics of system resilience to plan for and adapt to climate change. The seed grant will provide funding to evaluate the social, economic, and technical characteristics of resilient sanitation systems and to integrate this work with existing sustainability research to develop strategies and recommendations to increase access to and long-term performance of sanitation systems.