|
 |
|
 |
||
|
|
 |
|
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
 |
|
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
|
 |
|
 |
||
|
|
 |
|
 |
||
|
|
 |
|
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Research & Planning Studies
| Sustainable Water Systems Planning:
A ΚΑΘΑΡΟΣ H2O KATHAROS is an ancient Greek word meaning clean, clear and pure— The fundamental qualities of drinking water. -News Release: March 14, 2005 Western’s Sustainable Design Team Selected By Proctor and Gamble Jury Western Washington University , in collaboration between Huxley College (Nicholas Zaferatos) and Industrial Design (Arunas Oslapas) was one of 3 proposals selected nationally to develop solutions to global problems through sustainable design. The theme of the program is "Improving the lives of the world’s consumers in underdeveloped or lower income countries or markets." Participants were asked to identify and solve a problem—in an area such as water purification, personal sanitation or personal healthcare—to improve the lives of consumers. The 2004-2005 Proctor and Gamble / IDSA Interdisciplinary Student Design Collaborative selected Western’s proposal along with proposals from Arizona State University and the University of California , Berkley / the California College of the Arts in San Francisco . Each school was awarded $40,000 to develop their design solutions. Western’s project team seeks to help remote communities to become self-reliant in meeting their safe drinking water needs in an affordable and environmentally sustainable manner. “A community’s self reliance is closely dependent upon its ability to maintain its own water system and to monitor its quality and distribution. Self-monitoring of a local water supply provides a high level of assurance that the water is safe and distribution is equitable.” Water supply and purification problems associated with the use of rainwater in rural, isolated communities is the focus of Western’s design challenge. “Our project applies appropriate technology design solutions to solve water quality problems in rural, isolated communities.” The team undertook an interdisciplinary approach during winter 2005 to develop technological systems solutions in a culturally sustainable manner to meet the water resource requirements in a case study community – “ Blue Village ” -- a historic rural mountain village. The case study is part of Huxley/Western’s applied foreign studies program in community sustainable development on the Island of Kefalonia , Greece . Lessons learned through this adaptive planning and design process are applicable to other rural communities throughout the world that have historically depended upon rainwater as a primary source. |
|
||
 |
