Webinar- III:

The common problems between high- and low-income countries, novel solutions and collaborations

Date: Thursday, 20th Feb, 2025 16:00 - 17:20 NPT Kathmandu

Summary: This webinar in the series featured researchers from UK and policymaker from Pakistan. We learned and discussed about exciting new technologies to sense water using "nano-buds" and machine learning techniques, while also learning the water quality issues in a common framework between high- and low-income countries with a specific example of collaboration. (see below to learn more about the speakers and their talk)

Program

16:00 - 16:05 Introduction
16:05 - 16:25 Er. Shakeel Badshah, Assistant Director, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources "Water Quality and Progress towards SDG 6.1 : Pakistan's experience"
16:25 - 17:05 Dr. Baptiste Poursat and Dr. Justin R Spirling, University of Glasgow UK "Decentralised water technologies in Scotland and Nepal: A collaborative effort to develop new decentralised water monitoring technologies"
17:05 - 17:20 Discussions

Time: Thursday, 20th Feb, 2025 16:00 - 17:20 NPT Kathmandu

Er. Shakeel Badshah

Assistant Director, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources

Shakeel Badshah is a prominent figure in the field of water quality management, provision of safe drinking water and policy development in Pakistan. Currently serving as the Assistant Director at the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), he plays a vital role in advancing the organization's mission to ensure sustainable water management and provision of safe drinking water practices across the country. PCRWR is at the forefront of research and policy advocacy, aiming to address Pakistan's critical water issues, including scarcity, contamination, and efficient usage. Shakeel Badshah's work involves overseeing various research projects, implementing water conservation strategies, and contributing to the development of policies that support the country's long-term water security goals. His expertise and commitment are crucial in shaping national water quality strategies, and provision of safe drinking water, helping communities and policymakers make informed decisions on water-related challenges.

Talk title: Water quality and progress towards SDG 6.1: Pakistan's experience

(AI Generated) Er Shakeel discussed the challenges Pakistan faces in providing safe drinking water, highlighting that only 18% of the rural population and 39% of the urban population have access to safe drinking water. He noted that Pakistan is dependent on groundwater, which is contaminated with fluoride and arsenic, making it difficult to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.1 by 2030. Shakeel also mentioned the need for better monitoring and remedial measures to address these issues. He further discussed the National Water Quality Monitoring Program, which monitors water quality in major cities across Pakistan. Despite some progress, Shakeel emphasized that Pakistan still has a long way to go in achieving SDG 6.1.

Shakeel acknowledged issues with shallow wells, which are often contaminated with E. Coli and arsenic, noting that while they have provided arsenic removal filters, reverse osmosis is not a feasible solution for arsenic removal at the household level.

Dr. Baptiste Poursat

Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Glasgow

Dr Poursat specialises in water quality monitoring and water treatment. He obtained his PhD from the University of Amsterdam (NL) in 2020, where he investigated wastewater microbial community responses to pharmaceuticals in standardised biodegradability tests.

Following his PhD, he joined Wageningen University & Research (NL), where his work focused on advancing drinking water treatment through microbial communities and the removal of organic micropollutants. He also investigated micropollutant and microplastic interactions and developed bioelectrochemical tools for wastewater treatment.

Since 2022, Baptiste has been leading research in the Water & Environment group at the University of Glasgow as part of the decentralised water technology project. His research integrates analytical chemistry with environmental applications, contributing to the development of advanced analytical methodologies for water quality monitoring and biomarker discovery in wastewater.

Dr. Justin R Sperling

Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Glasgow

Dr. Sperling specialises in nano-and microfabrication of metamaterial sensing devices. His work has included projects covering (1) the production of novel nanophotonic devices for applications in structural color and bio-chemical sensing, (2) micro- and nano-patterned metasurface design and fabrication, and (3) flexible electronic design and fabrication of neural implant technologies using 2D materials. Justin is currently serving on the executive committee of the Environmental Sensing Technical Group of Optica and on the programming committee for this conference.

Decentralised water technologies in Scotland and Nepal: A collaborative effort to develop new decentralised water monitoring technologies.

Abstract:

Decentralised water treatment is crucial for providing sustainable, cost-effective solutions to remote communities where centralised infrastructure is impractical or expensive. In this talk, we present our work from the University of Glasgow (Glasgow, UK) and our collaboration with Phutung Research Institute (Kathmandu, Nepal) to address these issues.

In the first half of our talk, we will present our work as part of the Decentralised Water Technology project at the University of Glasgow. By collaborating with four Scottish islands communities and Scottish Water, the Decentralised Water Technology project aims to advanced decentralised system and water monitoring. Through novel environmental chemistry methods and advancements in nanophotonics, we developed a novel non-specific sensor capable of water quality monitoring and contaminant detection, offering a rapid, reagent-free alternative to benchmark analytical chemistry laboratory.

In the second half, we will discuss our partnership with the Phutung Research Institute, which has allowed for knowledge exchange regarding water quality monitoring in decentralised systems. We tested their RealtimeWAS, fluorescence-based water sensing, with raw water samples collected from various locations in Scotland. By comparing their tool with our analytical approaches, we aim to demonstrate the use of the RealtimeWAS system from a more global perspective and further provide data towards future improvement of the tool. In addition to advancements in technology, this collaboration also aims to explore regulatory, societal, and environmental barriers to implementation.

By bridging expertise across disciplines and countries, this work advances decentralised water monitoring, promoting resilient and sustainable water management in both high and low-income contexts.

Keywords:

plasmonics, optical sensors, water, environment, sensor, nanophotonics, array based sensing, cross-reactive sensing, metasurface

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