By Maegan Murray

In graduate student Kenny Nyirenda鈥檚 home country of Zambia, access to clean water sources can be challenging, especially in remote areas.

That is why he has committed his graduate research as a Fulbright scholar at Washington State University Tri-Cities to improving access to clean sources of drinking water and finding solutions to prevent water pollution.

The Fulbright Scholarship allows students and young professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching and primary and secondary school teaching worldwide. The prestigious program awards approximately 1,900 grants annually in all fields of study and operates in more than 140 countries worldwide.

As part of his Fulbright program, Nyirenda is studying under Yonas Demissie, assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at 黑料社 Tri-Cities, to look at the impacts of mining on groundwater resources, as well as how climate change is impacting groundwater resources.

鈥淏ecause of what is happening in terms of climate change and in terms of pollution, people are now resorting to the ground for their water sources,鈥� he said. 鈥淕roundwater is often a clean source of water and is readily available in the ground, although it can get depleted and polluted especially by anthropogenic activities.鈥�

Nyirenda said Zambia is largely known for its mining, which puts pressure on water resources as a result of excessive pumping and pollution from the activity.

鈥淲e want to make sure that this resource is protected, and many surface water bodies are drying up in some parts of the country due to prolonged dry seasons attributed to climate change,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here is fresh water available in the ground and we need to make sure we are protecting the resource, especially in these areas that are prone to climatic change.鈥�

Currently, as part of a graduate seminar, he is reviewing the data and literature on the impacts of mining on groundwater in Zambia and around the globe, assessing the potential of acid mine drainage and its impact on groundwater sources.

鈥淲hat they are mining in Zambia are mainly base metal sulfide-rich mineral deposits, which have the potential to generate acid when exposed to air, moisture or rain water,鈥� he said. 鈥淥nce that acid is generated, it becomes a nuisance because it spreads into the environment together with the dissolved heavy metals it carries and ends up in groundwater.鈥�

Solving the issue of access to clean drinking water and preventing pollution from occurring within not only his home country, but throughout Africa, he said, could solve many more problems throughout the continent.

鈥淢any diseases that are prevalent in Africa stem from consumption of poor quality drinking water,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you sort out the problems with water, you sort out problems with most of Africa. We need to figure out how to protect the resources that we have, as well as improve access to good quality water across Africa.鈥�

Nyirenda said he has never personally suffered from lack of access to clean drinking water, as he grew up in a military barrack where his father served in the military. As a result, he and his family were provided with water and electricity. Across rural parts of Zambia and in other parts of Africa, however, people may not have regular access to the same resources.

鈥淔or one, many might not have the knowledge to know whether a water source is OK,鈥� he said. 鈥淎dditionally, because there are natural sources of pollution, people may collect water thinking that it is of good quality, when in fact, there may be serious issues with it.鈥�

Nyirenda said he plans to take the research he develops through 黑料社 Tri-Cities and inform people, as well as implement changes, in his home country. His home university, The Copperbelt University, was selected by the World Bank as an Africa Center of Excellence in Sustainable Mining. One of its aims is to promote a balance between environmental sustainability and mine production. The pairing of his Fulbright experience at 黑料社 Tri-Cities with the resources afforded to him at his home university will allow him and his colleagues to make a true difference when he arrives back home.

鈥淥ne of the great things about the Fulbright program is the mutual understanding between the two countries that I can take my work back home to implement positive changes,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen I go back home, my network here will still be there as a result of this Fulbright experience. My work doesn鈥檛 have to end here. We will still be in touch to communicate about developments and regarding new opportunities once I return home.鈥�

Nyirenda hopes to work with the United Nations Environment Programme or United Nations Water to bring about positive change regarding water infrastructure and policies surrounding the resource in his home country. From there, he hopes to become a politician so he can help lead initiatives that will improve access to good quality water.

鈥淧oliticians have the opportunity to be more powerful to implement most of these innovative ideas regarding water access and policy,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 want to use this influence to implement these ideas.鈥�

By Maegan Murray

Stemming from his background growing up in Ethiopia, Yonas Demissie views water as a commodity more valuable than oil.

In the nation of more than 94 million people, just 42 percent have access to clean water in Ethiopia. That is why the 黑料社 Tri-Cities assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering has directed his research efforts toward the monitoring, exploration and evaluation of the resource that is vital in sustaining life.

鈥淗ere in the U.S., we take water for granted,鈥� Demissie said. 鈥淥ur daily water use here is as much as 10 times than that of a person in other countries where water is in limited supply.鈥�

Demissie said he has personally never experienced not having access to clean water, because he grew up in Ethiopia鈥檚 capital city of Addis Ababa where infrastructure is more advanced than other parts of the nation. But that doesn鈥檛 mean the issue doesn鈥檛 hit close to home.

鈥淚 may have grown up in the city, but the water scarcity issue and famine in the country are regular news,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t always bothered me to see images of starving children. There is no excuse for a child to get hungry. As a society, we should all be responsible for that. I want my research in water to be my contribution to society. Water is a very critical resource that needs to be accessible, protected and properly managed.鈥�

Demissie is currently working on a myriad of research projects at 黑料社 Tri-Cities that focus on various aspects of water-related issues.

鈥淚n terms of overall impact, any study on understanding and properly managing water resources is key,鈥� he said.

Climate research on Department of Defense facilities

Demissie is currently half-way through a four-year project studying the impact of climate change on military infrastructure, focusing specifically on whether defense infrastructure and facilities could handle increased flooding and abnormal increases and fluctuations in precipitation. His research is funded as part of a $1 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense.

鈥淒OD has many facilities across the globe and many of those installations are close to coastal areas,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey are worried about sea level rise, increased extreme storms and how that will affect their facilities and operations. Our research is to assess flooding risk with the DOD facilities鈥� existing storm water management system and whether it is sufficient or needs to be upgraded.鈥�

Demissie said when there is an increase in the temperature, there is an increase in the atmosphere鈥檚 ability to hold more water, which increases the chance of heavy rainfall. He said he and his team are currently analyzing the historical climate data to see if precipitation has increased over the years, whether storms now last longer and whether there has been an increase in the intensity, frequency and duration of the precipitation.

A change in precipitation caused by climate change and/or other factors, Demissie said, could also have drastic impacts in other areas such as agriculture.

鈥淚n our regions, for example, how snowfall on the Cascade Mountains is going to be affected due to climate change will be an important issue in determining future agriculture productions,鈥� he said. 鈥淓ven though the total amount of annual precipitation may not be affected, there may be a shift in when that precipitation may occur.鈥�

Instead of most of the precipitation occurring in the winter and early spring, as it is now, Demissie said it may occur mostly in winter, or even in the fall. He said farmers may not have the water when they need it for their crops and that the timing shift could have a significant negative effect.

In a similar study funded by the state鈥檚 water center, Demissie recently completed evaluating and updating decades-old design standards used to construct water related infrastructure, such as culverts, bridges and dams, for all the counties in Washington state.

Additionally, he and his team were also recently awarded funding from the state鈥檚 water center to study drought characteristics in the Yakima basin and to evaluate effectiveness of a $4 billion water management plan currently under consideration for tackling drought in the region.

鈥淐limate change is one of our generation鈥檚 major issues that we are going to have to deal with,鈥� he said.

Reducing effects of nitrates and phosphors stemming from biofuels industry on Gulf of Mexico

Researchers are making significant strides in the biofuels industry, creating fuels for jet airplanes, cars and more that help reduce the United States鈥� carbon footprint. 黑料社 is leading the industry in research for biofuels with its Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA). But increases in the crops in the Midwest required to make certain biofuels may be having a damaging effect on ecosystems in the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico.

Demissie is studying the impact of increased nitrates and phosphors from farming practices related to the biofuels industry in Midwest on the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico, and how they can minimize those issues.

鈥淚n the Midwest, they are making biofuels from corn, which requires increased nitrogen and phosphors applications, which end up in the streams,鈥� he said. 鈥淚ncreased nitrate and phosphors lead to algal bloom, which eventually prevents vegetation and fish from growing in lakes and other water bodies.鈥�

Demissie said increased algae prevents the natural process of photosynthesis from happening in the water as the sun can鈥檛 reach the lower levels and life essentially ceases from occurring. Because the Gulf of Mexico is connected to the Midwest through the Mississippi River, those nitrates and phosphors run directly into the gulf, causing algae bloom that currently covers areas as large as Connecticut and Rhode Island, combined.

鈥淭he Gulf of Mexico is one of the important regions for fishing,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e are growing more corn in the Midwest to meet demands of biofuels, but at the same time, we could end up killing an important industry downstream. We want to make sure that doesn鈥檛 happen.鈥�

Monitoring groundwater contamination at Hanford

Since he started at 黑料社 Tri-Cities in 2012, Demissie has consistently worked with Hanford Site contractors and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory staff in monitoring and modeling the groundwater flow from the site to ensure there is no radiation and other toxic contamination with vital sources such as aquifers and reservoirs used for human daily water use.

Contamination from the Hanford Site stems back to the facilities鈥� production of plutonium from World War II and the Cold War. Chemicals were released, both planned and unplanned, into the soil around the site. Scientists have since worked to develop and improve upon models that are used to predict the flow, as well as determine which areas they should treat.

鈥淲e are consistently monitoring groundwater contamination for Hanford, using various monitoring and modeling projects to tell where it鈥檚 flowing and how fast it is traveling,鈥� he said.

鈥淲e鈥檙e always working to improve methods and models for doing so,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e made significant strides in reducing the contamination from those early years.鈥�

Researching means to open access for Nile River

Demissie is presently working with a team of people to examine current flow patterns and allocations of the Nile River, and how they can more effectively be shared by all African countries associated with the river.

The Nile River is the world鈥檚 longest river, flowing 6,700 kilometers through 10 countries in eastern Africa, where water is mostly scarce. Demissie said any water project in the upstream tributaries of the Nile has been under political contention, as countries like Egypt and Sudan use the river as their main source of water and electric power generation.

Ethiopia, where 80-90 percent of the Nile water originates, historically was not using the river despite being hit by regular famines caused by highly variable rainfall in the region. However, Ethiopia is now constructing the largest dam in Africa on the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the Nile River, for electric power generation. Political officials in Egypt are worried that it would limit their access to the river, which they said they have a natural right to two-thirds of the resource, as indicated in The Nile Waters Agreement that was signed in 1959, which Ethiopia never signed.

Demissie and his colleagues Gabriel Senay, Naga Manohar Velpuri, Stefanie Bohms and Mekonne Gebremichael completed a study in 2014 that integrated satellite data and modeling to detail the variability of water sources in the Nile Basin. Their study revealed that about 85 percent of runoff generated in the equatorial region (Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda) is lost along the river pathway that includes the Sudd wetlands, which has an area approximately twice the size of Maryland. This proportion is higher than the literature reported loss of 50 percent.

In addition, their study found that the expected average annual Nile flow at the Aswan Dam in Egypt is 13 cubic kilometers greater than the reported amount of 84 cubic kilometers originally reported. Demissie said that means there is a flow amount that equates to more than half of Colorado River of water each year that was not accounted for during the 1959 water agreement.

Demissie said the loss in runoff and flow volume at different sections of the Nile River, however, tend to be more than what can be explained by evaporation losses, suggesting a potential recharge to deeper aquifers that are not connected to the Nile channel systems. He said the study indicated the need for increased instrumentation detailing the hydrometeorology of the basin.

鈥淥ur knowledge regarding water availability in the Nile Basin and how much and where water is lost in the system is limited,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut our analysis shows that we get more water into the system than what was originally estimated. There is extra water that Ethiopia can use.鈥�

Demissie said he hopes his group鈥檚 initial research will lead to bigger developments in assessing the direction, flow and amount of water from the Nile, which could lead to positive legislation among the African countries that may help lead to an agreement that would benefit all.

鈥淗aving a good understanding of water as a resource and coming up with a better management strategy I believe is critical for most societies,鈥� he said.