Stacey McMahan, sustainability advisor and design fellow with Architecture for Humanity, who has resided in Port-au-Prince, Haiti for a year teaching the locals how to build safe structures, writes about the importance of clean drinking water as an integral part of post-earthquake recovery in Haiti, which she writes will be ongoing in in the country for decades, in this post in Huffington Post’s “Impact” blog.

“In a country where cholera has gained a foothold, it’s essential to provide for clean water within each construction project, and it’s especially important to do so in crowded urban areas where traditional water sources are polluted,” she writes, adding, “Properly implementing access to clean drinking water and education on safe structures are just the first steps down the long path to recovery and we are working to ensure each of our projects is part of a longer term solution” (9/8).