Durham, NC - Type "water crisis" into your search engine and you'll see staggering global statistics on the lack of safe drinking water and sanitation around the world, which results in large death tolls from water-borne disease. According to the World Water Council, by 2020 the world will be 17 percent short of the water it needs to feed the global population, based on current consumption rates.

"The problem is not that the world is running out of water, but [a lack of] inexpensive, quality and sustainable water," said Disque Deane Jr., 82'.

Co-founder of the New York-based investment firm Water Asset Management, Deane has spent more than 20 years in the water industry focusing on water resources, infrastructure development and investments in clean water and sanitation technology.

Underlying his work is a passionate belief that water is often readily available but priced inappropriately.

"We believe the subject of water pricing and quality has not been part of the debate in global development," Deane said.

He will discuss the subject at the Duke in Depth weekend, Feb. 24-27. The event highlights "A World Together," a year-long initiative that emphasizes Duke's involvement with the global development community and celebrates the Peace Corps' 50th anniversary. The event is open to the public. To register, visit the Duke in Depth website.

On Saturday morning Deane will join Peter McCornick, director of water, Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions; Marc Jeuland, public policy professor; Curt Richardson, director of Duke's Wetland Center; and Erika Weinthal, an associate professor of environmental policy for a panel on international water resources. They will discuss emerging issues in water resource management and intersecting challenges in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. They'll also address the global water supply's changing circumstances due to conditions such as climate change, security and sanitation, and agriculture.

Although he now relies heavily on information available online, Deane says he developed many of his research skills during his undergraduate days in Duke's Perkins Library.

"Some of those skills remained valuable when I first begun researching water asset management in the 1990s," Deane said.

As he now returns to the campus, Deane says the intersection of disciplines and research at universities provides a useful platform for exploring issues involving water and global development. His company's representatives hope to attend similar discussions at other universities across the country.