Virginia Tech history professor, Nick Copeland, has received a $360,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to continue his work in Guatemala to ensure safe water supply. Collaborating with community organizations since 2018, Copeland and his team have been addressing concerns of water pollution caused by extractive industries. The grant will allow them to monitor water quality and provide training for the next three years. They also plan to study how Indigenous environmental justice movements use water science and its impact on community members. This project brings hope amid water safety concerns in Guatemala.
Hope springs amid water safety concerns | Virginia Tech News
Virginia Tech history professor, Nick Copeland, has received a $360,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to continue his work in Guatemala to ensure safe water supply. Collaborating with community organizations since 2018, Copeland and his team have been addressing concerns of water pollution caused by extractive industries. The grant will allow them to monitor water quality and provide training for the next three years. They also plan to study how Indigenous environmental justice movements use water science and its impact on community members. This project brings hope amid water safety concerns in Guatemala.
Collaborating to Address Water Pollution
In 2018, Nick Copeland and his team started collaborating with community organizations in Guatemala to address concerns of water pollution caused by extractive industries. They discovered elevated arsenic levels in surface waters near a silver mine, although they couldn’t determine if it was caused by the mine. They also found that a water treatment plant was not removing arsenic from the water. Since then, they have been conducting workshops to teach community members about water science and how to use field testing kits.
Monitoring and Training for Safe Water
The recently awarded grant will allow Copeland and his team to continue monitoring water quality and providing training for the next three years. They will work with rural and Indigenous communities in Guatemala who fear that industries like sugar cane and oil palm plantations are contaminating waterways. The team aims to empower community members to protect their water resources and use scientific knowledge to address industrial development and environmental justice issues.
By studying the ways in which Indigenous environmental justice movements use water science, Copeland and his team hope to understand how participation in science shapes the knowledge, ethics, and skills of community members. This project brings hope and potential solutions to the ongoing water safety concerns in Guatemala.
