Climate Change, Drinking Water Security, and Public Health

This book is designed to share current knowledge on the effects of climate change on drinking water scarcity and safety, as well as public health, and to offer solutions to these global challenges. It contributes to the health and economic well-being of the population by identifying the risks of climate change, the associated shortage of safe drinking water, and its impact on public health, as well as the necessary actions to mitigate these risks.

Climate change increasingly threatens the quality and availability of drinking water, which is vital for human health and survival. The book explores the scientific evidence showing how climate change endangers drinking water security and human health. This analysis is global and covers the present day through the foreseeable future. Readers will learn about various strategies and interventions currently employed to reduce the risks of climate change on water scarcity, safety, and public health. This knowledge helps readers better understand these threats and assess possible solutions.

The book's 20 chapters, featuring an interdisciplinary authorship, are organized in four sections:

Part I: Climate Change and Impact on Drinking Water and Public Health
Part II: Drinking Water Quality, Quantity, Scarcity, and Safety
Part III: Cost of Climate Change and Drinking Water
Part IV: A Global Agenda with Community-Based Solutions

Climate Change, Drinking Water Security, and Public Health: Global Challenges and Solutions helps readers understand and address the issues related to drinking water security as our climate shifts. The book is mainly aimed at students and instructors in public health, environmental science, environmental engineering, and civil engineering. Researchers, other professionals in these areas, as well as program planners, advocates, and policymakers, will also find it to be a valuable resource.

Azizur R. Molla, PhD, MPH, is a public health professor with over 20 years of experience in research and teaching. His research has focused on topics such as climate change, drinking water, disease and culture, environmental health, health policy, and community health. He holds both dual master's and Ph.D. degrees in medical anthropology and demography from The Pennsylvania State University, an M.P.H. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a B.S.S. from Dhaka University. Azizur is a Professor of Public Health at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, USA. He has authored a book on drinking water and disease and co-authored book chapters and articles based on his public health research. He has conducted studies in the USA, Bangladesh, Ghana, and Haiti. His research and publications focus on diseases caused by water contamination and air pollution, as well as health disparities and public health policy. He has received the Faculty of Distinction Award and served on the steering committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. He has also designed several community-resilient environmental health projects. Azizur has held various leadership roles in environmental health, including with the American Public Health Association and with the Bangladesh Environment Network. 

Seth H. Frisbie, PhD has over 35 years of experience in public health. He earned his B.S. from the University of Massachusetts, his M.S. from Cornell University, and his Ph.D. from Cornell University. He is a Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Norwich University in Vermont, USA. He is the principal or co-author of numerous articles in refereed journals, chapters in scientific books, and government and United Nations reports. His team has worked on drinking water and public health in Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Europe. They made the first national-scale maps of arsenic, manganese, lead, nickel, and chromium-affected drinking water in Bangladesh. In addition, they published extensively on the risks of neurodevelopmental impairment from excess manganese in infant formula and young child nutritional beverages sold in the United States. He has won numerous awards for outstanding research and teaching. 

Mohsen Sherif, PhD holds the position of Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (Provost) and Professor of Water Resources at United Arab Emirates University, UAE. Prior to his current appointment he held the positions of Director of Research and Sponsored Projects, Director of the National Water and Energy Center, Associate Provost for Academic Personnel, Acting Dean of College of Engineering, Department Chair - Civil and Environmental Engineering at UAE University. Sherif has published more than 200 journal and conference papers and book chapters and completed several large-scale water projects. He has three patents focusing on renewable energy and low energy desalination systems. Sherif has 35 years of teaching and research experience in groundwater flow and contamination, artificial recharge and management of groundwater systems, hydrology, hydraulics, fluid mechanics, numerical simulation, climate change, and applications of AI and ML in water resources. He is acting as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Hydrology and the Journal of Hydrologic Engineering (ASCE). Sherif is a recipient of several national and international awards. He received two Fulbright Scholarships and he was also awarded the designation of Diplomate, Water Resources Engineer, American Academy of Water Resources Engineers. 

Vijay P. Singh, PhD, D.Sc., NAE, is a Distinguished Professor, a Regents Professor, and the inaugural holder of the Caroline and William N. Lehrer Distinguished Chair in Water Engineering at Texas A&M University, USA. He received his B.Sc. & Tech., M.S., Ph.D., and D.Sc. degrees, all in engineering. He is a registered professional engineer, a registered professional hydrologist, a Board-Certified Water Resources Engineer (ASCE-AAWRE), and an Honorary Diplomate of the European Water Resources Association. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), a member of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, an Academician of the Georgia Fazisi Academy, a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, and a fellow/member of 11 other international science/engineering academies. He is a Distinguished Member of ASCE, an Honorary Distinguished Member of IWRA, a Distinguished Fellow of AGGS, an Honorary Member of AWRA, and a Fellow of AGU, IAHR, EWRI, ASCE, IAH, ISAE, IWRS, and IASWC. He has published extensively in the areas of hydrology, irrigation engineering, hydraulics, groundwater, water quality, food-water-energy-environment nexus, water resources, entropy theory, copula theory, and climate change impacts with more than 1688 refereed journal articles; 41 books; 105 edited reference books, 126 book chapters; and 330 conference papers.