Davis Research Group

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Research Interests

Jenna Davis' research group (known as the Poop Group) focuses on the intersection of health, economic, development and environmental protection, with particular emphasis on cost-effective and sustainable water supply and sanitation (W&S) service delivery in developing countries. Jenna is affiliated with:
 
  • Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Recent News of Interest

Sense of ownership for rural water systems (World Development paper) -- Despite broad acceptance of the idea that “sense of ownership” among users is critical to infrastructure sustainability in developing countries, little is known about what sense of ownership is, or its drivers. We present a novel measure of sense of ownership for piped water systems using empirical data collected from 1140 households in 50 rural Kenyan villages. This study establishes an empirical referent for households’ sense of ownership. We find that some, but not all, types of participation enhance community members’ sense of ownership for rural water projects. The paper is available here.
 
In sub-Saharan Africa, a shorter walk to water saves lives (ES&T paper) -- In the fight against child mortality in the developing world, simple things make a big difference. A new study by Amy Pickering and Jenna Davis published by the journal Environmental Science and Technology shows that decreasing the amount of time families must walk to obtain clean water can help save the lives of young children. More than a third of the world’s population does not have potable water piped into the home. In sub-Saharan Africa, that number jumps to 84 percent. The Stanford study analyzed data from 26 African countries, where it is estimated that some 40 billion hours of labor each year are spent hauling water, a responsibility often borne by women and children. The Stanford study is the first quantitative analysis of the relationship between the time devoted to fetching water and health outcomes.
See press release here. The article was also featured in a JAMA news brief here.
 
The world needs more toilets! (CNN op-ed) Palo Alto, CA (CNN) -- It does not make for pleasant dinner conversation. But we have a global sanitation crisis. More than 40% of the world's population does not have access to a toilet. These 2.6 billion people, most living in low- and middle-income countries in Asia and Africa, face the daily challenge of finding a bush, train track or empty lot where they can urinate and defecate in relative privacy.
Between 1990 and 2008, the share of the world's population that had access to basic sanitation increased only 7%, to 61% of the world's citizens. In many developing countries, mobile phone penetration is expanding at a faster rate than sanitation. In Tanzania, for example, half the country's citizens have mobile phones, but only 24% use an improved sanitation facility.
See the full article here.
 
Jenna's Blog: Jenna posts the latest news from her research group (known as the Poop Group), as well as comments on developments in the field.