Members of Western Kentucky University’s China Environmental Health Project are in Yunnan Province, China, this week to explore underground rivers in a deep cave system in an effort to enhance water resources in a dry, poor area of the country.

WKU’s CEHP receives major support from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the ENVIRON Foundation. The program’s goal is to improve public health in China through activities promoting access to potable water and clean air. USAID establishes academic partnerships with Chinese universities to achieve these objectives, in a project that was made possible through the support of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

The expedition is under way in Yunnan’s Honghe Prefecture, in a rural area of southern China about 100 miles north of the border with Vietnam.

The team is led by Pat Kambesis, assistant director of WKU’s Hoffman Environmental Research Institute within WKU’s Applied Research and Technology Program.