IRES TRACK 1: US-Ghana Student Research Experience: Understanding and conceptualizing threats and solutions of onsite sanitation and sea level rise on coastal groundwater resources

In coastal areas, the quality of groundwater systems that support millions of people is increasingly threatened by saltwater encroachment as sea level rises in response to a warming climate. For coastal populations in the developing world, where the use of onsite sanitation is prevalent, the risk of groundwater cross-contamination from septic systems presents an added challenge.

Throughout Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), peri-urban communities commonly lack access to potable water, compelling households to rely on shallow groundwater, sourced largely from hand-dug wells. Similarly, these communities also lack access to improved sanitation facilities, resulting in a proliferation of onsite systems, such as septic tanks and pit latrines.

Routinely, groundwater wells end up too close to toilet facilities, heightening the risk of groundwater cross-contamination. The risks to human health from this dual threat are not in doubt. However, contaminant migration pathways in subsoil media, as well as the factors that drive contamination, are often complex and site-specific.

Hence, a litany of physical, chemical, and biological parameters, and physiographic factors, must be well understood to conceptualize and advance sustainable solutions. Relatedly, the need for a trained, globally competent scientists and engineers who can address current and future water challenges has never been greater. This project will address both needs by; (1) undertaking high-impact water quality research to broadly assess impacts of saltwater intrusion and on-site sanitation facilities on coastal groundwater quality in Cape Coast, Ghana, a location that typifies the dual challenge, and 2) strengthen the professional preparation of US students as future, globally engaged water resources scientists and engineers.

Faculty at Shippensburg University (SU) and University of South Florida (USF) will work collaboratively with their counterparts at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), in Ghana, to bring three cohorts of US students (grad and undergrad) to Ghana and engage them in transformational learning experiences via research in water quality, sanitation, and climate change. This project will strategically recruit underrepresented minority groups, including females, as an incentive to broaden their participation in international STEM research and enhance their standing in STEM disciplines.

The project will address three major themes:

1. Effects of onsite sanitation on groundwater quality: To explore the vulnerability of shallow groundwater to onsite sanitation, student participants will conduct both field evaluations and laboratory analyses of groundwater samples for specific chemical and microbial contaminants. They will evaluate existing sanitation infrastructure (e.g., size of septic system & number of users per household), calculate septic system densities, collect GPS coordinates of wells and septic systems, perform soil tests, and assess other pertinent factors to help characterize and attribute sources of vulnerability.

2. Effects of sea level rise on groundwater quality: Although evidence of saltwater intrusion into wells has been reported for some of the communities closest to the coastline, it is not clear how far inland the saltwater has encroached. The US students will work collaboratively with their UCC partners, to determine the spatial extent of saltwater intrusion in the area.

They will conduct in-situ measurements of wells for salinity/conductivity/TDS, test water samples in the laboratory, and perform spatial statistical analyses on their results.

3. Education: An important component of this project is a proposed annual water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) Fair. The different cohorts of US students will collaborate with their local partners, mentors, and local high school (HS) students (and their teachers) to implement a WASH fair, which

will become an annual event providing WASH advisory services to the local communities beyond the life of this project. The project also has another outreach component where the US students will engage with community members for knowledge sharing. They will collaborate with Ghanaian HS teachers to develop a local program for HS students to continue routine well water monitoring into the future.

Overall, the project will give US students first-hand experiences with the critical water quality conditions in a developing country context, and enhance their interdisciplinary, problem-solving, and collaborative skills. Through their interactions with local researchers and communities, the US students will further gain knowledge of the social-cultural underpinnings that complicate water quality challenges in the developing world and how to propose solutions from a global context.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.