Towards Water Justice: Exploring the Effectiveness of Existing Tools and Frameworks

Water for centuries has been a resource taken for granted by society. However, in recent years, water shortages and ageing infrastructure have forced decision-makers to place the costly burden of supporting water system back on end-users. The distribution of this burden has been shown to disproportionately impact vulnerable communities (e.g., lower-income and BIPOC communities). Dr. Osman in this talk will explore the socio-technical dimensions of the provision of water and how to center justice in the decision-making process. Specifically, this seminar covers two case studies: 1) exploring the inclusion of drinking water in the federal Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool and 2) examining drinking water system consolidations within the state of California to determine whether consolidation has sufficiently provided reliable drinking water to vulnerable communities.

Speaker: Dr. Khalid Osman, Stanford University