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Water
The Harvard community is exploring ways to ensure that the world’s water—from the vast oceans to a glass of tap water—is healthful, unpolluted, and abundant.
Did you know…
Working with water
Harvard experts are exploring all aspects of water, from hydration to migration.
Aminta Ossom
Aminta, an instructor in Harvard’s International Human Rights Clinic, shares why water is such a critical—and threatened—resource in Delhi, India, how the problem disproportionately impacts women, and what governments must do to respond.
Gina McCarthy
The former EPA chief talks about the progress of the Cuyahoga River, a river once so polluted it caught fire, which is now deemed clean enough to eat the fish from it.
Get the lead out
A study on lead levels in drinking water in schools raises new concerns about the lack of enforced regulations.
Read about the report's findings
(P)FASten your seatbelts
Harvard Law alum James Pollack discusses the impact of the first-ever federal rules on “forever chemicals”—also known as PFAS—in drinking water and what they mean for America.
There’s still ‘Something in the Water’
For many Indigenous and Black communities in Nova Scotia, living with contaminated water is the norm and the symptom of a much larger problem of environmental racism.
Learn more about the impact on these communities
Filtering liquids with liquids
Based on systems found in nature, liquid-gated membrane filtration systems are being studied to improve wastewater purification.
Cleaning water off the grid
A portable water purifier in development by researchers at the Wyss Institute aims to make contaminated water safer to drink.
Arctic Initiative tackles plastics in oceans
With help from the Belfer Center, this initiative aims to address the Arctic’s threat of becoming a “trash bin at the top of the world.”
The Colorado River crisis
Harvard Extension School’s Scott Horsley discusses how seven states are reevaluating their usage of this slowly declining water supply.
Saving the ocean one sachet at a time
In Indonesia, Harvard alum Jane von Rabenau is working to drastically reduce plastic usage for everyday items.
Learn about alternative packaging
How climate change changes water
Deep trouble
Floods, exacerbated by climate change, often have distressing effects. “Many emergency health systems are not ready to cope with that type of disaster,” says Patrick Vinck, director of research at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.
Water, life, and climate change in South Asia
The economy of South Asia is deeply tied to the amount of rainfall the monsoon brings each year, but climate change threatens to shift its patterns, destabilizing livelihoods throughout the region.
Solutions for extreme climate events in Mexico
Mexico’s second largest city experienced a critical shortage of water recently, requiring the state government to ration water for many of the city’ five million residents.
Ensuring Miami has drinkable water
Climate change has increased the vulnerability of Miami’s drinkable water through saltwater intrusion and water pollution from flooding.
Campus rain gardens to improve water quality and prevent flooding
Students from a first-year think tank led a successful effort to plant a pair of rain gardens on campus.
Watering a living collection
Harvard's Arnold Arboretum has been implementing a long-term strategy to build out automated irrigation systems in high-priority collections and improve the overall water infrastructure and irrigation systems to increase water use efficiency.
Sustainable water management
Harvard's Office for Sustainability aims to reduce University-wide water use and pollution, in our buildings and through our landscape maintenance.