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Why is AguaClara at Cornell a program rather than a project?
Unlike a project, the AguaClara program has no ending date. The program includes multiple basic and applied research projects as well as an ongoing design team. The complexity of treating surface waters, the multiple processes that must be coupled, and the need to invent new systems that meet the criteria of sustainability provide the impetus for a long term program where extensive expertise can be acquired through multiple iterations of the innovation cycle. The scope, duration, and complex nature of the challenge we are working to solve qualifies AguaClara as a program rather than a project.
See our AguaClara at Cornell University - A White Paper describing the AguaClara program at Cornell.
What inspired you to begin working on water issues?
I think the ideals of sustainability were core values for me since childhood. Perhaps I was inspired by the energy crisis of the 70's. I was interested in alternative energy sources as a teenager and built a windmill that generated electricity while I was in high school. My passion shifted to water while I was in Honduras working with Salvadoran refugees from 1982 to 1983. It was obvious that water is a critical need and that contaminated water is a source of a lot of suffering. I, of course, experienced the agony of waterborne disease while I was in Honduras.
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