UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. — Second only to the air we breathe, safe drinking water is the most indispensable element on Earth for human survival. Each of us requires it to live. But alarmingly, roughly one quarter of the global population struggles to attain it, according to the United Nations.
“Right now, about two billion people lack access to clean water around the world,” said Asher Rosinger, associate professor of biobehavioral health and anthropology at Penn State. “Two billion. That is a gigantic number. It's not fair who does and who doesn't have access to clean water. It's by no fault of the people that don't have access to clean water. This is a structural issue.”
Rosinger, director of the Water Health and Nutrition Lab and program area leader for the Environmental Health Sciences Initiative in the College of Health and Human Development, was interviewed about his extensive research on water-related issues by Penn State biology undergraduate student Thomas Sontag for the latest episode of the "Tracking Traits" podcast. The podcast is a production by the Penn State Center for Human Evolution and Diversity.
“The biggest issue we need to address is ensuring clean drinking water access to every human on this planet,” Rosinger said. “That needs to be a governmental, intergovernmental initiative to ensure that we meet the sustainable development goal, SDG 6, for everybody, because the United Nations has declared access to clean water as a basic human right.”
Rosinger’s overall research program is designed to understand how humans meet their water needs, how this relates to adaptation, environmental changes, and water insecurity, and the resulting health, hydration and disease consequences.
In his podcast conversation with Sontag, titled "Water Challenges Across the Globe," Rosinger discussed his interest in understanding how humans meet their water needs and the health outcomes associated with different strategies. He outlined some of the diverse challenges of water insecurity and shared his experiences working with different populations in the Bolivian Amazon, Northern Kenya and the United States, studying the impacts of water on health and human biology.
Sontag said he was fascinated to learn more from Rosinger about the diverse ways different populations around the world meet their water needs under challenging circumstances.
“It's just amazing how resourceful people can be when dealing with water and other basic needs,” Sontag said.
Rosinger also discussed with Sontag the link between extreme climatic events and long-term negative health outcomes, particularly in relation to water needs and adaptation. His Dec. 27 article in "Scientific American" presented a wide array of studies illuminating many of these effects, as Rosinger referenced in the podcast.
Penn State as an institution has increasingly focused on water issues in recent years, convening a large, multi-disciplinary research community through its Water Initiative. Rosinger spoke on the podcast about his role in this effort as well.
“Over the last few years, we have a huge number of researchers at Penn State who do water-related research,” he explained. “We have about 140, so it's quite a large number of faculty. People can approach it and solve water problems from hydrological elements, from social science elements, from public health elements. So, there's so many different areas of expertise that the Water Initiative is bringing together.”
"Water Challenges Across the Globe" is available on all major podcast platforms. The "Tracking Traits" podcast features Penn State undergrads interviewing researchers about their work and personal passions. New episodes are released monthly.
The Center for Human Evolution and Diversity is housed within the Department of Anthropology in Penn State’s College of Liberal Arts, with support from the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.