The Making Water Insecurity Visible group aims to address major gaps in the measurement and visibility of the underlying issues driving the global water crisis by using ethnographies, surveys and biosensors to produce new data on water insecurity and issues of water quality.

More than two billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water services, yet there are major gaps in the measurement and visibility of the underlying issues driving the global water crisis, such as inadequate water infrastructure, demand exceeding supply or institutions failing to balance communities’ needs. This group seeks to shed new light on the water crisis by conducting social science research, engineering testing and remediation solutions and fostering policy conversations that translate data into action. The group will conduct research in the U.S., Mexico and Kenya, using ethnographies, surveys and biosensors to produce new data on water insecurity and issues of water quality. Learn more in our Buffett Brief on Making Water Insecurity Visible, or explore more Global Working Groups' research in our collection of Buffett Briefs >>

READ THE BUFFETT BRIEF ON MAKING WATER INSECURITY VISIBLE

Co-leads:

• Julius Lucks, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern McCormick School of Engineering
• Sera Young, Anthropology and Global Health, Northwestern Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences

Group members:

• William Dichtel, Chemistry, Northwestern Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
• Jean-François Gaillard, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern McCormick School of Engineering
• Charlayne Mitchell, Global Health Studies, Northwestern Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
• Noelle Samia, Statistics and Data Science, Northwestern Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
• Robert Weinstock, Clinical Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
• Pablo Gaitán, Research Professor, Ibero-American University's Research Institute for Equitable Development (EQUIDE)
• Simon Thuo, Consultant, Alliance for Global Water Adaptation

Research Activities

• The National Science Foundation awarded a new Northwestern University study a $3 million grant that will enable the Making Water Insecurity Visible Global Working Group to expand upon their work in Chicago. The pilot study, led by group leaders Julius Lucks and Sera Young, will follow a phased roll-out of hand-held, easy-to-use test kits developed by the Lucks Laboratory to 350 Chicago-area households to assess their home water quality.
• In fall 2023, co-lead Sera Young and group member Pablo Gaitán-Rossi co-authored an article on the expansion of the Water Insecurity Experiences (WISE) Scales—the development of which was led by group co-lead Sera Young—in the International Journal for Equity in Health. They also co-authored an article in Nature Water on the critical role of water in food security and nutrition. 
• In winter 2024, the group and their collaborators on the study distributed lead tests as part of the first phase of the study. They will distribute copper tests during the second phase, and the third phase will roll out PFAS test kits that combine Lucks Laboratory technology with new breakthroughs from the lab of group member William Dichtel.

Engagement Activities  

• In April 2023, two members of the Making Water Insecurity Visible Global Working Group—Pablo Gaitán Rossi, director of Iberoamericana’s Research Institute for Equitable Development (EQUIDE), and group co-lead Sera Young—led a meeting that convened 60 thought leaders from across North and South America in Mexico City to discuss how better measurement can lead to global progress in public health.
• Following the Mexico City convening, policymakers in Nuevo León, Mexico committed to building the Water Insecurity Experiences (WISE) Scales, the development of which was led by Sera Young, into regular surveys of vulnerable populations in their state—effectively creating a playbook for other governmental entities within Mexico and around the world to follow.
• At the 2023 Foreign Policy Climate Summit, Sera Young discussed the Making Water Insecurity Visible group's unique approach to its mission during the summit's panel discussion on Strategies for Strengthening Water Insecurity, sharing her insights into how quantifying the types and degrees of water insecurity can inform strategies to more effectively address these vulnerabilities.

• Co-lead Sera Young and her collaborators presented the event "If climate change is a shark, water is its teeth: How water insecurity data can mobilize action" at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Pavilion at the United Nations’ annual climate change conference (COP28) in December 2023. The presentation revealed the first-ever picture of how water insecurity experiences covary with climate events. 
• In November 2023, co-lead Sera Young delivered a Leverhulme Trust Lecture, “The value of quantifying human experiences with water: Global evidence and opportunities,” at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.