 I grew up in a small town called Reynolds, Georgia, picturing population of just over a thousand people in home of the famous Georgia Strawberry Festival. From the front porch of my childhood home, you can see the city's wastewater treatment plant. And I remember thinking as a little kid that we lived by a lake. Then to my disappointment, I found out that pool water is far from what I'd want to swim in. And now that I'm an environmental engineering PhD student, I find myself reflecting back on the environment I grew up in, particularly memories concerning water. See, I never remember a time where I was told that our water wasn't clean. But I do remember times where the water would be delayed and sometimes it was kind of shoot or pulse out of our bathroom faucets because of some random water pressure issue. I remember times where we would only stick to bottled water at my house because my mom would say, oh, the water is cloudy today or it smells weird. And my mom, being the same that she is, she would always get packs of bottled water for the church choir. People just preferred it. Or at least that was what the kid and me assumed. On my journey to graduate school, I got the opportunity to support a study on point of use water filters. And so think of the Brita or peer filters that can attach to your kitchen closet. Recently, I bought myself one because just having it makes me feel a little bit safer. It's not a perfect solution, just an extra layer of protection, just in case I need it. But buying that filter and then thinking about the Flint water crisis where so many people were using these filters to protect themselves from lead, it really made me pause and recognize how my own perceptions of drinking water have shifted and are still shifting over time. I consider these memories and lived experiences to be my own kind of water story. A water story to me is simply your own experiences with drinking water and sanitation that have led to your own perceptions of how safe you believe your water to be. Have you reflected on your water story? See, I'm sure if we had time for each of us to share, the Zoom chat would explode with so many stories with unique differences and maybe some interesting similarities. But I have another question for you. Have you wondered how your perception of water would change if you lived in a different community? I'm assuming most of us live near Ann Arbor, which may or may not be true, but say instead that you lived in Denmark, South Carolina, where a new chemical has been added to the water, and now you're seeing people across the community develop health issues. People like St. Joseph Johnson, who passed away a couple of years ago. At any point would it occur to you to question the water? Or say you lived in Blue Gap, Arizona, in the Navajo Nation, and you're seeing your 90-year-old neighbor, Nellie Yellow Horse, who lives with her elderly sisters and they don't have running water. Would you perceive your water quality differently then? See, in America, it's interesting. We have this expectation that when we turn on the faucet, our water will be provided immediately, continuously, and of a safe drinking water quality. And I get it. A lot of us tend to trust the systems in place that provide us water, and water problems largely remain hidden because, I mean, to some degree, pipes are mostly underground. But isn't it interesting that when we think of different locations, or even when you think of traveling internationally to developing countries, our perception of water can shift. And honestly, location is just one lens that impacts our views on water. Recently, I'm realizing that the lived experiences of groups of people, particularly people of color, shift water perceptions in a way that goes beyond any one location. Scallop conducts an annual environment poll, and this data dates back to 1999. And as of 2017, it showed that concerns around drinking water pollution were 56% for those who identify as white and 80% for those who do not identify as white. 80%. And the poll finds that this racial gap in perceptions existed before the Flint water crisis was national news. Historically, communities of color have disproportionately experienced higher proximity to toxic environments. And this has been documented by scholars like Dr. Robert Bullard in his book, Dumping and Dixie, which describes early environmental justice movements of communities of color dating back to the 1980s. And maybe you have had this experience. Have your perceptions of drinking water changed over time. Let me share with you a short story. I recently went back home to Georgia before the semester started. And for part of the week, I stayed with my mother-in-law. I call her Mom V and she has such a bright bold personality. She met our 80-pound puppy, Barry, and he's named after Barry Allen, the flash for those of us that like superheroes. And I remember the first thing she got for us was this big flat of bottled water. And I thought it was for me and my husband. And I remember when we went to fill Barry's bowl, she kept trying to give him bottled water. Her water comes from a private well and she said she didn't know if the well water would mess up his stomach. She hasn't had it tested, but now I think she's a little bit more apprehensive to trust the tap because she may have heard of studies showing that some private wells can have elevated lead levels compared to seedy water. See these stories of buying bottled water, using a filter, traveling miles for water can be told many times over. And each telling of the story carries a different face, a different mother, a different sibling, a different child, but so many of these faces are black, indigenous, Hispanic or migrant families is proportionately more often than they are white. And so that's the here. That's the here in where do we go from here. More studies are showing that communities of color may disproportionately experience poor water quality, which could be driving racial gaps in how water quality is perceived. And so now that we know where here is, where do we go? How do we rebuild trust in water systems? I'll be the first to admit I don't have all the answers, but I believe it begins with transformative engagement. Let me explain. Transformative engagement is a process where everyone is a partner that applies their knowledge to community problems rather than knowledge being passed only from university to community. See technical solutions, they harbor inherent biases and the role of technical experts in efforts to partner with affected communities is not to take charge, generate solutions and change everyone else's perceptions, rather it is to listen before designing, share knowledge that is found in the company communities in their journey to water justice. We should transform curriculums in ways that build students capacity to communicate with the public, build trust through sustained relationships and challenge design decisions that are not in the best interests of all. We should focus research toward filling policy gaps that can advance equity. And lastly, we should ensure that our work can be readily accessed and understood by the public, which goes beyond just satisfying academic publication demands. I keep reminding myself of my water story that those experiences that I grew up with are valuable in ways that are different but just as important as my growing technical expertise. I think we all, especially those in academic communities could use a reminder that the lived human experience is valuable to developing solutions. As technical experts, we do have something valuable to give but that doesn't mean we have to be in the driver's seat to get to the best solution. We just need to be in the car in the willing to offer support among the journey. Let's show that we value water stories. Thank you.