Jesse Bell, Ph.D. is the Director of the Water, Climate and Health Program based in the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health. This program brings together experts from the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI) at the University of Nebraska. It was created in 2020 through a $5 million gift commitment made by UNMC alumna Anne Hubbard, M.D., through the Claire M. Hubbard Foundation.
Jesse grew up in Bloomfield, NE located in the northeast area where he loved to fish and hunt and be out in nature. In 2018 UNMC recruited him for an associate professor role, his colleagues said, “You could go to a lot of places, Why Nebraska? The answer was easy, who was lured back to the Cornhusker state from Atlanta, where he created the first join research position between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
When he returned to Nebraska, he felt there was tremendous potential for future work – a better chance that we could move the meter a little more to produce improved health outcomes.
When it comes to flooding, most people think of coastal states as having the biggest problem. Amazingly, with its large number of rivers and waterways, Nebraska ranks as the sixth most flood-prone state in the country. The 2019 flood was devastating to Nebraska. It resulted in three deaths, and the $10.8 billion economic loss made it the costliest inland flooding event in U.S. history. We saw the full spectrum of flooding – the damage caused by rushing water, contaminants, bacteria and ag chemicals in the water, debris you can’t see, animals trying to escape. Once the waters receded, we saw the problems afterwards, such as mold in houses and mental health issues due to lost crops and livestock.
With 92% of Nebraska’s land dedicated to agriculture, it’s no surprise that high nitrate concentrations can be found in groundwater across the state. Nitrates, which have been linked to potentially serious health issues in babies, originate primarily from fertilizers, septic systems and manure storage or spreading operations. In addition, other elements found in Nebraska’s water can impact health. These include arsenic, lead, uranium, agricultural chemicals and herbicides such as atrazine. One in four jobs are related back to agriculture and we have 77,097 producers in the state. In 2019 our estimated population was 1,934,408 people.
Eighty percent of Nebraska’s water comes from community public water systems, while the remaining 20% comes from private domestic wells. Climate change is another area of concern in Nebraska. Over the past 50 years, Nebraska’s temperatures and precipitation have increased. Scientists expect this trend to continue in the future, which will translate to winters being wetter and summers being drier.
By partnering with the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI), the Water, Climate and Health Program will be able to enhance its effectiveness. The DWFI mission is to have a lasting and significant impact on achieving more food security with less pressure on scarce water resources by conducting scientific and policy research, using the research results to inform policy makers, and sharing knowledge through education and communication. The DWFI's vision is for a food and water secure world: one in which global food security is ensured without compromising the use of water to meet other vital human and environmental needs.
This is a strategically important alliance for our institute and the UNMC College of Public Health. It will enable us to better research the complex issues impacting water quality and develop solutions for improved public and environmental health. The Water, Climate and Health program will work in three main capacities:
- Bringing diverse university experts together to solve complex issues.
- Finding technical and policy solutions to improve the environment for better human health,
- Providing experiences for students studying these issues.
Research topics the program could address include the following:
- Links between the state’s water quality and pediatric cancer and birth defects.
- Health outcomes related to Nebraska’s flooding.
- The impact of technology, such as precision application of nitrogen fertilizer on soil and water quality.
- Mapping at-risk populations and environmental exposures in the state.
The hope is to build an interdisciplinary program across the university that will thrive for decades to come. They have plenty of work to do. They will focus on Nebraska first, then the region, and then everything outside the region. The idea behind public health is to prevent disease instead of just treat it. It is obvious how much impact environment has on human health. Water is life. The goal is for everyone to have safe, clean water available.