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In the karst areas of Southwest China, millions of people suffer from health issues and limitations to economic development that result from environmental problems. To enhance the implementation of solutions to China's complex environmental public health issues, the China Environmental Health Project's (CEHP) Technical Program for Water was initiated in 2006 by Western Kentucky University (WKU) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) via cooperative agreement. The purpose of the CEHP was to develop U.S.-China university partnerships to enhance the living conditions of the population in target regions by improving access to safe drinking water, increasing China's capacity to monitor water resources, and protecting the integrity of valuable karst groundwater resources. This paper summarizes the completed educational and outreach efforts, strengths, and weaknesses of training events, and possible future challenges of a program on water. Based on feedback from attendees at training workshops and results from course evaluations, the ability of local scientists to investigate the region's groundwater is enhanced and local residents are becoming more knowledgeable about karst environments. Challenges encountered reflect those inherent to any capacity building project, including questions of sustainability, ownership, and application of the information and technology by trainees.

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