Water Expert = Wetspert!

As I read, When the Rivers Run Dry, I am trying to figure out what to call my future career. It is difficult for a few reasons. First, there are jobs that will exist in water in the coming years that don´t yet have a name. Second, there are already so many different names for people who work with water and water problems. In this particular book, Pearce (2006) cites engineers, hydrologists, glaciologists, oceanographers, climatologists, environmentalists and geologists. These experts work at universities, institutes and organizations all over the world. Some are specific and local, like the Mekong River Commission, others are powerful international organizations like the World Bank´s Commission on Dams or the International Rivers Network.

This can be a bit overwhelming for a blossoming water nerd. However, at the delightful Black Sheep Inn I had the opportunity to meet a water expert in flesh and blood! Jeff La Frenierre is a first-year PhD student at Ohio State University. He was in Ecuador working on his dissertation research on glacial melt on Volcan Chimborazo. Glacial melt from this volcano forms the headwaters of three different watershed systems. Jeff is interested in how glacial melt is connected to local hydraulic systems and how regional water supply would be impacted if the glacier atop Chimborazo was to melt away.

Jeff´s master´s research was also quite interesting. In Laos he looked at human energy expenditures, measured in caloric intake, to measure water access. He writes, ¨there is evidence that the current metric for measuring access, the presence of an improved water source located within 1 kilometer of a household, is inadequate. The physical burden of transporting multiple loads of water over such a distance has distinct consequences for a person's health. Understanding these consequences must be a fundamental part of future water development research.¨ I am currently reading Jeff´s thesis- more on this later.

Jeff is a scholar of political geology with interests in paleo-glacial geomorphology- a few new names to give to water nerds!