Creating a ripple effect: How one Georgia Southern professor is using community-sourced materials to improve clean water accessibility

Dec 12, 2024

5 min


Turning on the tap for a drink of clean water may seem like part of an everyday routine for many. Yet, for countless communities—even here in the U.S.—this simple act remains a daily challenge, with each glass or clean drop of water far from guaranteed. One Georgia Southern University professor is working to change that.


Thirty percent of the Navajo Nation population lacks access to clean drinking water. Lewis Stetson Rowles, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Construction in the Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Computing at Georgia Southern University, is working to increase access to clean water for this community and beyond by engaging with locals to understand how materials used in traditional cultural practices can be transformed into life-changing solutions.


“My first trip to the Navajo Nation as an undergraduate student was a really eye opening experience for me,” Rowles said. “To realize that there were people within the U.S., in our own backyard, who lacked clean water is what inspired my whole career in research and education.”


Establishing trust was an important challenge to overcome for Rowles and his fellow researcher and mentor Navid Saleh, Ph.D., professor of environmental and water resources engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.



“Years of uranium mining left the mineral-rich area and the connection with the Navajo community polluted,” Rowles said. “It has been a decade-long effort to build community relationships, understand the issues and develop potential solutions specific to the needs of the Navajo Nation.”




Finding solutions specific to local needs and cultures is key to their implementation and success according to Rowles.


“We have to work with communities to truly understand the issues and collaboratively develop functional solutions because locals are the people who understand the problems the best,” Rowles said. “I don’t believe that there’s a one-size-fits-all solution. For technologies to really be sustainable, we need to understand if they’re going to work in a specific location, which means we need to develop community-specific solutions.”


Working with the community is important for more than just understanding the issue at hand. When thinking about big-ticket issues, like clean water, Rowles said that it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking about large-scale, infrastructure-based solutions. But some of the most immediately effective and impactful solutions happen on a much more intimate level.


“Centralized distribution systems take a long time to build, they’re also very costly,” Rowles said. “The need for clean water is dire in many communities, so point-of-use technologies are great because they can be adopted quickly. They also bring power to the people in a way, because technologies can be developed with local materials, like we’re doing here with clay and pinyon resins for ceramic filters. This can create immediate solutions to water contamination issues.”


Rowles, who specializes in environmental engineering, worked with members of the Navajo community to discover how the process of creating traditional pottery can help solve the problem of clean drinking water at a local level for families. Deanna Tso, a third-generation Navajo potter, has been integral to this process to ensure that the novel solutions don’t detract from traditional practices.


“If you’ve ever climbed a pine tree and gotten sap stuck on your hands, you know it’s very sticky,” Rowles said. “The Navajo people have been using this sap for centuries to waterproof pottery and baskets. Meanwhile, one of the biggest limitations to the use of silver nanoparticles for water treatment is the immobilization of those particles. We used this local resin to coat the nanoparticles, keeping them in place and extending the lifetime of the filters while still allowing them to kill bacteria. It also acts as a really unique barrier that prevents silver poisoning by stopping the silver from interacting with other compounds that would inhibit the dissolution of silver nanoparticles into silver ions which kill bacteria.”


By working together to integrate new technologies into existing traditions, Rowles and his partners are one step closer to changing the lives of many in the Navajo Nation. Their hope is that this knowledge will be used to expand access to potable water to more parts of the world.


“While we started working with Deanna on a very specific pine tree sap, the more we’ve researched, we’ve seen there are similar pine and conifer trees throughout the continent, even into Mexico, that have been used by indigenous groups for centuries,” Rowles said. “This means that this research has much broader applications across the world, particularly in areas that lack centralized water treatment systems where people go and collect water from distant sources or wells, bring it back to their house, and then treat it at the household level.”


The extension of this knowledge begins by sharing it, which is precisely what Rowles’ team has done over the last year. They published their research Integrating Navajo Pottery Techniques To Improve Silver Nanoparticle-Enabled Ceramic Water Filters for Disinfection in October 2023 and shortly thereafter began working with PBS NOVA. Their work will now be shared as part of a documentary series highlighting engineers working to positively change the world.


“The Navajo Nation is just one area impacted by lack of access to clean water,” Rowles said. “Around 1.5 million people across the U.S. lack indoor plumbing and many more rely on wells and septic systems that are often aging or failing, leading to sanitation concerns. There are a lot of great organizations and a lot of great research working to address sanitation issues abroad, but I hope this research can open people’s eyes to the fact that this is a local problem, too. Don’t take it for granted that you’re able to turn on the tap and have safe, clean water, because that is not true for a lot of Americans and for much of the world.”


You can continue exploring Rowles’ research on an episode of PBS NOVA—Building Stuff: Change It! and by watching the Innovations in Water Treatment with Navid Saleh from Building Stuff: Change It! Twitch episode of Building Stuff with NOVA.


If you're interested in learning more or a reporter looking to speak with Stetson Rowles - simply contact Georgia Southern's Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.

You might also like...

Check out some other posts from Georgia Southern University

3 min

Georgia Southern professor receives national faculty mentor award

The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) named Georgia Southern University English Professor Olivia Carr Edenfield, Ph.D., the winner of the 2025 Arts and Humanities Faculty Mentor Award. The award recognizes faculty who go above and beyond to nurture undergraduate research, scholarship and creative work. Edenfield’s record of taking student research to new heights set her apart from a nationwide field of candidates. After joining Eagle Nation as a professor in 1986, Edenfield has helped her students become published researchers and presenters at local and national conferences. She said seeing those hardworking students excel has been her real reward. “Receiving this award is deeply personal,” Edenfield wrote in her CUR nomination statement. “My greatest joy in teaching has come from my students’ successes.” During her time as associate dean for Student Affairs in the former College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS), she launched the college’s undergraduate research symposium, now known as CURIO. She also helped establish a Center for Undergraduate Research for CLASS and set up residential interest groups to encourage students to share their love of different subjects with each other. Edenfield has helped her students achieve access to opportunities on a national level. She has served as director of the American Literature Association (ALA) since 2019, where she started a unique program that places Georgia Southern English majors in high-level administrative roles for ALA conferences. Seven of Edenfield’s students have had their work published in The Richard Macksey Journal at Johns Hopkins University. Many of her students have also presented their research at national and international conferences. Georgia Southern student Maegan Bishop’s presentation at the 2023 American Literature Association Annual Conference, based on research from Edenfield’s undergraduate class, was so impressive that she was invited to present her work at a conference on the short story at the University of Mainz, which covered all of her expenses. “My own experiences with Dr. Edenfield are only a small example of the work she has done to mentor undergraduates at Georgia Southern,” said Bishop. “She is constantly doing everything in her power to assist her students with whatever they need, extending every opportunity to those who express interest in becoming more involved in literary scholarship and campus activities.” David Owen, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, emphasized how much Edenfield cares for her students, noting that her passion to help them succeed is second to none. “Mentoring is not a side note to Edenfield’s career, it is the throughline,” said Owen. “Her students succeed not just because of her guidance, but because she teaches them how to believe in their own voices.” The Faculty Mentor Award is the latest in a distinguished line of recognition for Edenfield. In 2016, she was named both the CURIO Mentor of the Year and the Wells-Warren Professor of the Year at Georgia Southern. She is a three-time recipient of her college’s Award for Distinction in Teaching, winning in 2016, 2020 and 2024. Edenfield was also a member of the inaugural class of the Governor’s Teaching Fellows program in 1995. ___ If you're interested in learning more about Georgia Southern's College of Arts and Humanities and want to book time to talk or interview, let us help - simply contact Georgia Southern's Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.

2 min

Georgia Southern researchers survey flood-stricken area of Bangladesh

Cox’s Bazar is a bustling tourist destination located on the southeastern coast of Bangladesh. It’s home to more than 3 million people living along the longest naturally occurring sea beach in the world, extending into the Bay of Bengal. But during the monsoon season, the area is prone to flooding and frequent landslides due to its geographical location and low altitude. More than 7,000 people living in the region were displaced in 2024 after a particularly severe season that destroyed thousands of shelters, leaving three dead. Georgia Southern University Assistant Professor Munshi Rahman, Ph.D., knows the dangers and devastation monsoon season can bring to this area. As a native of Bangladesh, he has witnessed firsthand how environmental changes, urbanization and deforestation contribute to the devastation. This is why he is actively working to help his home country identify the most disaster-prone areas through the use of geographic information systems and surveys. In January, Rahman and junior geoscience major Emma Robinson traveled to Cox’s Bazar to survey and identify the areas most prone to landslides and flooding with a goal of providing data to local government and nongovernmental organizations that could help address disaster risks. Robinson says she was thrilled to gain experience in field research and engage in work she’s passionate about. “Dr. Rahman’s project really inspired me because I’ve always had a drive to help the environment,” she said. “I thought this would be a great first step into research, especially since geology and geography are so closely related.” The two used geographic information systems, GPS and community input to pinpoint vulnerable spots near residential areas and population centers. Specifically, they found that many homes and refugee camps were built on slopes. Aside from being geographically vulnerable, they observed that many of these dwellings, built from bamboo poles, tarps, and corrugated metal, lacked the infrastructure to withstand flooding. “The key findings reveal a serious environmental degradation on local landscapes exacerbating the frequency and severity of landslides and flooding events in the region,” Rahman said. He added that these insights highlight the urgency for sustainable ecosystem management and the adoption of inclusive disaster management to reduce social and environmental vulnerabilities Rahman and Robinson suggest that their findings, combined with additional socioeconomic research, could provide a more comprehensive understanding of the situation on the ground. This would enhance disaster preparedness while promoting sustainable land use. “Not too many undergrads have opportunities like this,” she said. “I know this will help me get a jump-start on my senior thesis and give me a whole new perspective for future research projects. It’s made me more confident overall as a student and researcher.” Rahman is similarly grateful for the opportunity to give his students experience in the field. “As a professor, I’ve always wanted to give my students as much real-world experience as possible,” he said. “I also give Emma full credit. Prior to this trip, she had never traveled outside the U.S. She showed incredible courage and a real talent for research.”

2 min

University-wide mental health services strengthened by Georgia Southern’s JED Campus initiative

As a result of Georgia Southern’s commitment to increasing student awareness and access to mental health resources, the University has recently been named a full JED Campus (JED) Member university. Georgia Southern recently completed a four-year partnership with JED, a national collegiate mental health program that guides colleges through a collaborative process of building comprehensive systems, programs and policy development with customized support to build upon existing student mental health, substance use and suicide prevention efforts. Along with the JED efforts, Georgia Southern has significantly increased student awareness and access to mental health resources. A recent report shows that 83% of Georgia Southern University students agree that the administration is listening to the concerns of students around health and wellness. This is a 15% increase since 2020. In 2020, the University System of Georgia launched several system-wide initiatives and resources to increase the mental health awareness and resources for all of its institutions. One of these initiatives was to fund the enrollment of all institutions in the JED Campus program. This included the creation of a JED campus team, an initial campus mental health climate study conducted by the Healthy Minds Institute on behalf of JED, the completion of a Georgia Southern self-study, a campus site visit by JED and the development and completion of a four-year strategic plan. “Engaging in the four-year JED Campus process has enabled Georgia Southern to strengthen and expand its university-wide commitment to the mental health of our students, faculty and staff,” said Jodi K. Caldwell, Ph.D., Counseling Center executive director & JED Campus team lead. “The JED team remains committed to growing Georgia Southern’s efforts in providing awareness, education, resources and support for the well-being of our community. We are grateful to the University System of Georgia, whose support funded this opportunity for all USG institutions and to the support of our Georgia Southern administration.” Recently, the University has increased awareness and resources through programs like the H.E.R.O. Folder. Students aware of mental health outreach efforts grew from 40% to 60%, and those knowing where to seek professional help increased from 78% to 84%, according to the JED feedback report. Additional findings can be found in the full report at the bottom of this article. Georgia Southern will now be considered an alumni of the program, and will continue several of the programs and initiatives launched with JED. If you're interested in learning more about Georgia Southern's  partnership with JED and want to book time to talk or interview with Jodi Caldwell then let us help - simply click on her icon now contact Georgia Southern's Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.

View all posts