{"id":56,"date":"2023-11-03T14:40:04","date_gmt":"2023-11-03T19:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arch.tamu.edu\/reu\/?page_id=56"},"modified":"2023-11-07T14:27:15","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T20:27:15","slug":"research-topic-9-socio-technical-challenges-to-equitable-wastewater-services-in-rural-underserved-communities","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.arch.tamu.edu\/reu\/research-opportunities\/research-topic-9-socio-technical-challenges-to-equitable-wastewater-services-in-rural-underserved-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Topic 9: Socio-technical Challenges to equitable wastewater services in rural, underserved Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Research Description<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"244\" height=\"146\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arch.tamu.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2023\/11\/topic-9.png\" alt=\"An egg in a puddle\" class=\"wp-image-116\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Black Belt region of rural Alabama has long struggled from a lack of access to managed wastewater infrastructure, resulting in the presence of raw sewage on the ground and significant risks to public and environmental health. Due to high poverty in these underserved communities, many residents use straight pipe discharge to backyards or streams, as advanced onsite wastewater systems are not affordable. Such unacceptable sanitation conditions have drawn extensive local, national, and international attention, calling for technological and regulatory solutions to address wastewater issues in these communities. Research efforts at Bakchan Lab are ongoing to provide explicit characterization of this wastewater crisis in the Black Belt, by documenting challenges spanning the various dimensions of the operating environment (e.g., social, financial, regulatory, institutional). This research project would enable decision-makers to proactively make policy and funding changes to potentially address inadequate wastewater management in rural, underserved communities, bringing awareness to pressing environmental justice concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">REU Research Plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>REU students will be involved in conducting and analyzing semi-structured<br>interviews with stakeholders in Alabama (e.g., regulators, utilities, residents) during the summer months.<br>Under the supervision of graduate mentors and Dr. Bakchan, the students will conduct literature review to<br>summarize existing research studies surrounding the wastewater issues in the Black Belt and identify<br>knowledge gaps to further support the contributions of this research project. Additionally, the REU students<br>will assist in (1) conducting qualitative coding of the interviews, (2) assessing the reliability of coding using<br>intercoder reliability test, and (3) write a conference\/journal paper, upon mutual interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">More Details<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Keywords: <\/strong>Decentralized wastewater management; socio-technical challenges; rural underserved<br>communities; environmental justice; infrastructure equity; semi-structured interviews; qualitative analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Undergraduate Degrees:<\/strong> Civil Engineering, Construction Science\/Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Faculty Advisor: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arch.tamu.edu\/staff\/bakchan-amal\/\">Dr. Amal Bakchan<\/a> (<a href=\"mailto:bakchan@tamu.edu\">bakchan@tamu.edu<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research Description The Black Belt region of rural Alabama has long struggled from a lack of access to managed wastewater infrastructure, resulting in the presence of raw sewage on the ground and significant risks to public and environmental &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"parent":20,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arch.tamu.edu\/reu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arch.tamu.edu\/reu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arch.tamu.edu\/reu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arch.tamu.edu\/reu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arch.tamu.edu\/reu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.arch.tamu.edu\/reu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118,"href":"https:\/\/www.arch.tamu.edu\/reu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56\/revisions\/118"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arch.tamu.edu\/reu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arch.tamu.edu\/reu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}