Program on Water, Health & Development
Stanford's Program on Water, Health & Development works to improve the health and well-being of communities by creating the knowledge, skills and solutions needed to support effective management of water and wastes and to ensure sustained, equitable access to water supply and sanitation services.
Featured Projects
WASH UP! Empowering children with clean water and sanitation
WHD | Africa, Middle East, Latin America | Active
Water Data Dialogues
WHD | Africa, Asia, North America, South America, Oceana | Active
Lotus Water
WHD | Africa, Asia | CompletedWhere We Work
Featured News
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A beloved researcher, educator, and colleague who sought solutions to hydrate a drought-stricken American West, Luthy was a powerful force for water conservation and cleanup for more than five decades.
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Stanford researchers have developed a prototype system that can harvest fertilizer from urine. The approach could provide sanitation, income, and energy in resource-limited regions.
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The chemical engineering professor and his lab take a creative approach to extracting needed resources such as ammonia from wastewater streams.
About Us
Supporting sustainable and equitable development is at the core of our work.
Effective, sustainable management of water and waste is essential for economic development and the protection of both human and environmental health. Population growth, urbanization, increased consumption and climate change make it increasingly difficult to ensure reliable water and sanitation service access. Never has it been more important to guide decision-making – from the individual to the global level – with credible, actionable evidence.
Our Mission: Working to improve the health and well-being of communities by creating the knowledge, skills and solutions needed to support effective management of water and wastes, and to ensure sustained, equitable access to water supply and sanitation services.
We accomplish our mission by:
- Strengthening the scientific basis for decision-making in both the public and private sphere.
- Developing and testing technologies, policies and business models that address key challenges in the water and sanitation sectors.
- Enhancing public and private sector capacity for sustainable water and wastewater management.
- Partnering with other researchers, policymakers and practitioners to amplify the impact of our contributions.
- Providing unique training and learning opportunities for faculty and students at Stanford and partner institutions.
Leadership
Featured Publications
- Munive, A., Donville, J., & Darmstadt, G. (2023). Public leadership for gender equality: a framework and capacity development approach for gender transformative policy change. eClinicalMedicine, 56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.101798
- Harris, A., Daly, S., Pickering, A., Mrisho, M., Harris, M., & Davis, J. (2023). Safe Today, Unsafe Tomorrow: Tanzanian Households Experience Variability in Drinking Water Quality. Environmental Science & Technology, 57(45). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c05275
- Zaniolo, M., Fletcher, S., & Mauter, M. (2023). Multi-scale planning model for robust urban drought response. Environmental Research Letters, 18(5). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acceb5