DATE: November 24, 2008
CONTACT:
Stephen Moysey, 864-656-5019 (office) 864-622-9350 (cell)
smoysey@clemson.edu
WRITER:
Susan Polowczuk, 864-656-2063
spolowc@clemson.edu
Clemson Geoscientists Without Borders tackle water project in India
CLEMSON — India and Thailand are sites for the first two projects sponsored by the Geoscientists Without Borders program, and Clemson University researchers will lead the way in India addressing the severe water crisis in rural areas.
The program sponsors efforts to apply geophysical technology to address the needs of people in developing countries around the globe, specifically targeting projects designed to have a humanitarian impact on communities.
Clemson University and the Foundation for Ecological Security, a non-profit organization in India, will use electromagnetic induction tools, similar to the kind of technology used in metal detectors, to map soil moisture and shallow aquifers in the Salri watershed in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. Even though the annual rainfall for the area ranges between 17 and 64 inches per year, similar to conditions in South Carolina, most of it falls in only three months of the year, resulting in water scarcity during the dry season.
“The lack of fresh water is a chronic problem in central India that has impacted the health, productivity and quality of life for millions of people living there,” said Stephen Moysey, Clemson geoscientist in the department of environmental engineering and earth sciences.
Moysey expects to go to the area in the spring with environmental engineering and science graduate student Dan Matz, who then will spend six months working with villagers and Foundation for Ecological Security staff in the watershed.
“We don’t simply want to find another watering hole that will go dry in a year or two," Moysey said. "We want to transfer our science in a way that will empower people to sustainably manage their water resources for the long term.”
The team will help villagers to improve their management of groundwater recharge and agricultural irrigation activities in the watershed in an effort to increase water availability in the dry season. Rangoori Ravindranath of the Foundation for Ecological Security will lead the effort along with Moysey.
Geoscientists Without Borders is a new program offered by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists Foundation that was made possible through initial support by Schlumberger. Clemson was selected as an inaugural recipient of a grant through a competitive proposal review process that was open to global competition.
The second Geoscientists Without Borders project awarded this year will take place in northern Thailand, where another group from Boise State University and Chiang Mai University will train students from the United States and Southeast Asia to use geophysical methods to mitigate earthquake hazards, address water-quality issues and map archeological sites.