World Water Development Report Research Articles

Owner Replenishes: Enabling Youth Participation for Ground Water Conservation in Peri Urban Nashik

UN World Water Development Report 2022 ‘Groundwater: making invisible visible’ - has pointed out that the major source of freshwater is groundwater. Groundwater conservation and replenishment have taken the forefront in view of the water crisis faced by the world. Groundwater management is action-oriented, focusing on practical implementation activities and day-to-day operations. It occurs more often at the micro- and meso-level. The urban area has the privileges of an established public water supply system, the suburbs and periurban areas are almost entirely groundwater dependent. The surface water runoff is mostly wasted and drained into the nalla/ river in these areas. Peri Urban zone of Nashik includes 177 institutional campuses (schools and colleges). These campuses can be developed as role models and act as leaders for water conservation methods and groundwater recharge for the neighbouring rural zone. This research is based on a methodology that involves three-pronged approaches, which consist of a) Identifying the potential of educational campuses in the peri-urban zone, b) educating the school students about the water and its conservation techniques as primary stakeholders of the future and c) creating platform at the school level to interact with the villagers in the vicinity to create the actual impact of the replenishment. This approach ensures active participation of the stakeholders (campus management, admin, student community) in periurban areas for groundwater recharge. Thus sensitising the student community as the primary stakeholder ensures the bottoms up approach for sustainable urban development. This transdisciplinary approach of engaging the students with the community drives two fold benefits - one, of committed habit formation in them & second, of becoming a leader & a resource person for future green development of the area The discussions on groundwater conservation in this paper point out to the need to coin principle of “Owner Replenishes”- for water conservation on the lines of “Polluter Pays”.

Aquifer Recharge and Overexploitation: TheNeed for a New Storyline.

Aquifer Recharge and Overexploitation: TheNeed for a New Storyline.

Analysis of changing trend of water resources and water environment quality in china from 2009 to 2019

Based on the statistical analysis of China Water Resources Bulletin, China environmental situation Bulletin and national environmental statistics yearbook during 2008-2019, we summarized the water resources and water environment quality of seven major basins, and the proportion, main pollutants and change trend of various types of water quality are discussed. Meanwhile, wastewater discharge and pollution discharge are also analyzed. The results show that in the recent years, the overall water environment quality in China is improving, but the overall water environment quality is still not optimistic. Water resources are not only the basis for human survival and development, but also a strategic resource for the development of the national economy. According to the <<World Water Development Report 2018>> issued by the United Nations, the current global water demand is increasing at a rate of 1% per year. This demand will continue to increase, and my country's water resources are even scarcer, and the per capita consumption is only 1/4 of the global average. In the face of this situation, understanding the state and changing trends of my country's water resources and water environment, and putting forward targeted resource conservation and pollution control measures are of great significance to alleviating the problem of my country's water shortage.

Making the Invisible Audible: A Simple Sound-Emitting Water Level Meter.

Making the Invisible Audible: A Simple Sound-Emitting Water Level Meter.

A Synergistic Approach to Atmospheric Water Scavenging.

An abundant supply of fresh water is one of the leading challenges of the 21st century (UNESCO. The United Nations World Water Development Report 2018: Nature-Based Solutions for Water;UNESCO: Paris, France, 2018; p 154). Here we describe a new approach to scavenge atmospheric water that employs a hierarchically ordered porous material with embedded particles (Lash, M. H.; Jordan, J. C.; Blevins, L. C.; Fedorchak, M. V.; Little, S. R.; McCarthy, J. J.Non-Brownian Particle-Based Materials with Microscale and Nanoscale Hierarchy. Ang. Chem. Int. Ed.201554, 5854-5858). This composite uses structure to amplify native material performance to realize synergy between the capture and storage and to ultimately qualitatively change the adsorption behavior of the hydrogel (from unfavorable to favorable). In this way we can capture moisture at significantly lower relative humidities than would otherwise be feasible with the native materials. Not only does this approach pose the potential for a cheap and low-energy source of clean water but it could also be modified for application across a variety of condensable vapor reclamations.

Blue economy, blue finance and ocean governance for achieving sustainable development goals

AbstractThis research paper is an attempt to define and analyse the concept of the blue economy (BE) and its implications for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study covers aspects such as building a blue economy to achieve SDGs, the importance of a healthy ocean for current and future generations, maintaining the momentum to save the ocean, achievements of the United Nations (UN) conference on the Sustainable Blue Economy, and the highlights of the UN World Water Development Report 2020. This study specifically analyses the health effects and threats to biodiversity, adaptation and mitigation, improved wastewater management, prioritizing water, accessing climate funds, water and climate change, and the relationship between the blue economy and UN SDGs as well as identification of key stakeholders. This is achieved through a detailed literature review on the blue economy that identifies global organizations working on creating a blue economy, elements of the blue economy and current development efforts, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, sustainability and equity, ocean governance, international law and frameworks, and improvement in governance frameworks among other issues. The methodology used attempted to develop a macro, comprehensive, and systematic aggregate database at the country level on macro parameters, namely blue economy, blue finance, BE‐SDGs linkages, water development, marine sector, SDGs data on SDG‐14 (life underwater), SDG‐6 (access to safe drinking water and sanitation), SDG‐3 (good health and well‐being), and optimal management of water resources through scientific techniques, such as building several small reservoirs instead of mega projects, develop small catchment dams and protect wetlands, soil management, micro catchment development, recharging of underground aquifers thus reducing the need for large dams, which has encountered challenges due to data limitations. The results of this research study emphasize broader stakeholder consultations at the global level to resolve the issues relating to blue economy, blue finance, and ocean governance. The most important conclusion and policy implications of the study are that international organizations including the United Nations, the Asian Development Bank, and the World Bank are working towards achieving the SDGs in general, and the blue economy, blue finance, and ocean governance in particular.

Single-Cell Level Measurements of Photocatalytic Damage to Escherichia coli Cells

The increase in water demand due to the increasing population and the addition of emerging contaminants like drug-resistant bacteria, pharmaceuticals, and treatment-resistant chemicals such as PFAS are straining the current water treatment infrastructure. This straining infrastructure could be complemented by photocatalysis and other Advanced oxidation processes (AOP) [1] [2]. Photocatalytic water treatment methods, specifically, have generated a lot of interest due to their ability in eliminating pollutants like dyes and other toxic organic pollutants as well as eliminating pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses while minimizing the use of material resources. The elimination of bacteria by photocatalysis has been reported widely, with many reports focusing on the kinetics of photocatalytic disinfection, as well as some aspects of process scale-up. However, the mechanism for photocatalytic damage to the bacterial cells has thus far proven difficult to study [3] [4].It is critical to determine the mechanisms of photocatalytic disinfection for the development of better methods of catalyst discovery and reactor design. The mechanisms can be determined if quantitative data on how single bacterial cells interact with catalysts is available. However, experimental measurements at a single-cell level are relatively few and assays for evaluating photocatalyst performance in real-time have not been developed to our knowledge. In this work, we addressed these shortcomings with a combination of light microscopy and particle-tracking algorithms. Using nanowire-shaped titanium dioxide (TiO2) catalyst particles, which maintain a high surface area while remaining visible using the established techniques for light microscopy, we investigated the interactions between catalyst particles and bacteria. We quantified cell motility during the course of photocatalytic disinfection as a loss in motility is expected to faithfully track damage to the membrane [5]. We further correlated the kinetics of antibacterial action of the photocatalytic treatment in E. coli with real-time changes in membrane integrity. Our investigations are anticipated to reveal the mechanisms by which photocatalytic treatments cause cell damage. Such single-cell approaches are expected to help build libraries of photocatalysts and optimize the use of antibacterial agents against superbugs, with a range of future applications in water-disinfection reactors to hospitals.REFERENCES[1] X. Qu, J. Brame, Q. Li, P.J. Alvarez, Nanotechnology for a safe and sustainable water supply: enabling integrated water treatment and reuse, Accounts of chemical research, 46 (2013) 834-843.[2] A. Boretti, L. Rosa, Reassessing the projections of the world water development report, NPJ Clean Water, 2 (2019) 1-6.[3] O.K. Dalrymple, E. Stefanakos, M.A. Trotz, D.Y. Goswami, A review of the mechanisms asnd modeling of photocatalytic disinfection, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 98 (2010) 27-38.[4] H.A. Foster, I.B. Ditta, S. Varghese, A. Steele, Photocatalytic disinfection using titanium dioxide: spectrum and mechanism of antimicrobial activity, Applied microbiology and biotechnology, 90 (2011) 1847-1868.[5] R. Gupta, K. Y. Rhee, S. D. Beagle, R. Chawla, N. Perdomo, S. W. Lockless and P. P. Lele, Indole modulates cooperative protein-protein interactions in the flagellar motor, PNAS Nexus (2022)

HEALTH EFFECTS OF WATER POLLUTION

Water is an essential resource for human life. According to the 2021 World Water Development Report released by UNESCO, global consumption of freshwater has increased six fold over the past 100 years and has been increasing by about 1% annually since the 1980s. Water quality is facing serious challenges due to increasing water consumption. Industrialization, agricultural production and urban life have led to environmental degradation and pollution, adversely affecting life-sustaining water resources (rivers and oceans), ultimately affecting human health and sustainable social development. Globally, approximately 80% of industrial and municipal wastewater is released into the environment without any pretreatment and it is adversely affecting human health as well as ecosystems. This ratio is higher in less developed countries, where sanitation and sewage treatment facilities are largely lacking. KEYWORDS: - Water, Pollution, Health, Effects, Injurious, Contaminated, Ecosystems, Hazardous.

The United Nations World Water Development Report 2022 on groundwater, a synthesis

The United Nations World Water Development Report 2022 on groundwater, a synthesis

WASTEWATER RECLAIMING AND RECYCLING: ESSENCE AND DIRECTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Topicality. The topicality of the research results from the fact that according to the data of the United Nations (UN), 36% of the world's population lives in water-scarce regions, in particular Ukraine is ranked 125th among 179 countries on the indicator of total internal renewable water resources per capita, which states that Ukraine is poorly supplied with freshwater. In recent years, special attention of international communities have been paid to the wastewater reclaiming and recycling as a possible alternative to traditional water supply and solution of water scarcity problem. In the UN World Water Development Report 2017, it is noted the need to use wastewater as a resource since fresh water has become increasingly scarce. Aim and tasks. The purpose of the article is to determine the essence, features and directions for wastewater reclaiming and recycling implementation to ensure sustainable water resources management in Ukraine. Research results. The results indicate that climate change, rapid urbanization and population growth affect the state of water resources and the population's access to fresh water. In order to find ways to overcome the natural water shortage, it was proposed to use alternative sources of water supply, in particular, wastewater reclaiming and recycling. Based on the analysis of national and foreign regulatory legislation, the modern semantic content of the concepts of "wastewater reclaiming" and "wastewater recycling" has been clarified, and a scheme for introducing the wastewater reclaiming and recycling into the water cycle has been developed. Statistical data on providing the population of Ukraine with centralized water supply and drainage systems and the amount of volumes of untreated wastewater discharged into the environment have been analyzed. The analysis was carried out and the main areas of recycling of wastewater reclaiming components were determined. Conclusion. Considering the importance of ensuring sustainable water resources management, the authors of the article determined the place and role in the introduction of wastewater reclaiming and recycling. The study demonstrated that 97% of Ukraine's wastewater is not recycled, and more than a quarter of the discharged wastewater in the Odessa region is discharged without proper treatment, which has extremely detrimental consequences for the environment and human health. The stages of technological processes of centralized water supply and sanitation services are considered and the introduction of wastewater reclaiming into the water use cycle, in particular in the energy, manufacturing, agricultural sectors and for municipal and domestic needs, is proposed. It is argued that the introduction of wastewater reclaiming and recycling contributes to the development of a circular economy and provides certain socio-economic-environmental benefits, including reducing environmental impact, avoiding overexploitation of water resources and increasing water availability in arid regions of Ukraine.

Mitigation Techniques for Water-Induced Natural Disasters: The State of the Art

According to the 2020 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report (UN WWDR 2020), about 74% of all-natural disasters were water-related between 2001 and 2018 [...]

Deep Learning-Based Water Crystal Classification

Much of the earth’s surface is covered by water. As was pointed out in the 2020 edition of the World Water Development Report, climate change challenges the sustainability of global water resources, so it is important to monitor the quality of water to preserve sustainable water resources. Quality of water can be related to the structure of water crystal, the solid-state of water, so methods to understand water crystals can help to improve water quality. As a first step, a water crystal exploratory analysis has been initiated with the cooperation with the Emoto Peace Project (EPP). The 5K EPP dataset has been created as the first world-wide small dataset of water crystals. Our research focused on reducing the inherent limitations when fitting machine learning models to the 5K EPP dataset. One major result is the classification of water crystals and how to split our small dataset into several related groups. Using the 5K EPP dataset of human observations and past research on snow crystal classification, we created a simple set of visual labels to identify water crystal shapes, in 13 categories. A deep learning-based method has been used to automatically do the classification task with a subset of the label dataset. The classification achieved high accuracy when using a fine-tuning technique.

Wastewater Nitrate Reduction to Ammonia By a Co-Centered Molecular Catalyst

The U.S. spends $2.2 billion annually on remediation of harmful algal blooms (eutrophication), primarily caused by anthropogenic nitrogen pollution in wastewater discharge.1 Eutrophication perturbs coastal ecosystems by disrupting food chains, decreasing biodiversity, and causing nutrient deficiencies.2 Selective nitrate reduction (NO3RR) of wastewater is an attractive remediation strategy that prevents eutrophication and recovers a value-added commodity chemical in the form of ammonia. Recovering ammonia from nitrate in fertilizer runoff and municipal wastewater could offset up to 13% of ammonia produced worldwide through the Haber-Bosch process.3–6 With renewable-sourced energy, this strategy would also offset 320,000 metric tons of CO2-eq in greenhouse gas emissions.7 In this study, we present a Co-centered macrocycle, called Co-DIM, as a homogeneous molecular catalyst for the selective reduction of nitrate to ammonia. The advantages of Co-DIM include high water solubility, tunable product selectivity by ligand modification, and a wide range of pH operability.8 Despite comprehensive studies of promising molecular catalysts performed in the CO2 reduction (CO2RR) literature,9 NO3RR has not received a similar level of attention, and comparative frameworks do not yet exist to critically evaluate catalyst activity, selectivity, and stability. In this study we combine electroanalytical techniques in model systems to bench-scale, membrane-separated electrolysis in real wastewater. By doing so, we quantify the performance of a model NO3RR electrocatalyst, and demonstrate a generalizable approach for comparative benchmarking against heterogeneous and homogeneous reduction catalysts for other reactions (e.g., CO2RR).Determining the reaction mechanism of homogeneous molecular electrocatalysis requires careful understanding of the reaction environment. Using electroanalysis techniques, such as cyclic voltammetry (CV), and electrode surface identity modification (through atomic layer deposition and self-assembled monolayers), we were able to probe the electron transfer kinetics of Co-DIM activation and NO3RR catalysis. We found that Co-DIM is activated by an outer-sphere electron transfer mechanism, thereby deemphasizing electrode material identity for catalysis. We also leveraged key features of the obtained sigmoidal CVs to build the first ever TOF-eta relationship for a NO3RR molecular catalyst. Finally, we demonstrated greater than 50% removal of nitrate using Co-DIM in electrolysis of municipal wastewater. With this experiment, we present the novelty of using rational cell architecture and observable electrocatalysis in real wastewater for substantial nitrate removal and ammonia recovery. This work aims to encourage a framework for NO3RR evaluation to foster next-generation catalyst design and device implementation for large-scale nitrate removal from wastewater.(1) Dodds, W. K.; Bouska, W. W.; Eitzmann, J. L.; Pilger, T. J.; Pitts, K. L.; Riley, A. J.; Schloesser, J. T.; Thornbrugh, D. J. Eutrophication of U.S. Freshwaters: Analysis of Potential Economic Damages. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2009, 43 (1), 12–19. https://doi.org/10.1021/es801217q.(2) Kemp, W. M.; Boynton, W. R.; Adolf, J. E.; Boesch, D. F.; Boicourt, W. C.; Brush, G.; Cornwell, J. C.; Fisher, T. R.; Glibert, P. M.; Hagy, J. D.; Harding, L. W.; Houde, E. D.; Kimmel, D. G.; Miller, W. D.; Newell, R. I. E.; Roman, M. R.; Smith, E. M.; Stevenson, J. C. Eutrophication of Chesapeake Bay: Historical Trends and Ecological Interactions. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 2005, 303, 1–29. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps303001.(3) Wastewater: The Untapped Resource; Unesco, Ed.; The United Nations world water development report; UNESCO: Paris, 2017.(4) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. World Fertilizer Trends and Outlook to 2020. 2020, 38.(5) Kato, T.; Kuroda, H.; Nakasone, H. Runoff Characteristics of Nutrients from an Agricultural Watershed with Intensive Livestock Production. J. Hydrol. 2009, 368 (1), 79–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.01.028.(6) Lang, M.; Li, P.; Yan, X. Runoff Concentration and Load of Nitrogen and Phosphorus from a Residential Area in an Intensive Agricultural Watershed. Sci. Total Environ. 2013, 458–460, 238–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.04.044.(7) Smith, C.; Hill, A. K.; Torrente-Murciano, L. Current and Future Role of Haber–Bosch Ammonia in a Carbon-Free Energy Landscape. Energy Environ. Sci. 2020, 13 (2), 331–344. https://doi.org/10.1039/C9EE02873K.(8) Xiang, Y.; Zhou, D.-L.; Rusling, J. F. Electrochemical Conversion of Nitrate to Ammonia in Water Using Cobalt-DIM as Catalyst. J. Electroanal. Chem. 1997, 424, 1–3.(9) Costentin, C.; Robert, M.; Savéant, J.-M. Catalysis of the Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide. Chem Soc Rev 2013, 42 (6), 2423–2436. https://doi.org/10.1039/C2CS35360A.

Nanowire-Assisted Photocatalytic Water Disinfection

The water demand is projected to grow by 20% to 30% by the year 2050 as compared to 2018 to sustain the 2050 projected population of 9.4 to 10.2 billion [1]. As the demand for treated water useful for domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes increases, the current water supply and treatment infrastructure will be strained and will prove to be insufficient to meet this increased demand. The removal of emerging contaminants, such as pharmaceuticals, drug-resistant pathogens, and ‘forever chemicals’ make water treatment all the more challenging. Photocatalysis may serve as a great compliment to the existing train of treatment technologies in meeting this challenge. Photocatalysis could be employed to remove a wide variety of contaminants from water, ranging from organic and inorganic contaminants to pathogens, Moreover, if implemented in an effective manner, the photocatalysts employed to treat water could be recovered and reused. This, coupled with the use of renewable sources of energy, makes photocatalysis a sustainable process for water treatment on a large scale.While various materials have been investigated as photocatalysts for water remediation, Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is one of the most widely studied materials for this purpose. Various forms of TiO2, such as commercially available Aeroxide® P25, phase pure nanoparticles in Anatase as well as Rutile phases, and also alternative forms of TiO2 such as nanowires, have been explored for removal of dyes, pathogens etc. from water. Here, the capability of TiO2 in generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light is enhanced by the high specific surface areas of nanostructured TiO2. While the small size of the nanocrystalline photocatalyst is advantageous for enhancing kinetics, it may also be one of the major hurdles in the widespread use of photocatalysis for water treatment purposes. Enhanced scattering of light by nanostructured photocatalyst may make the process inefficient in certain cases. Also, the recovery and reuse of the nanostructured catalyst may be tedious.In this context, developing a roadmap towards scaling up the photocatalysis process, initially to a pilot plant scale and eventually to commercial scale is important for real-world applications of photocatalysis for water remediation. In this presentation, we will present a few strategies useful for accomplishing this goal. Changes to the catalyst morphology and their chemical composition, and the reactor geometry that have been implemented to make the photocatalysis process useful for treating large quantities of water, along with strategies developed for easy recovery and reuse of the photocatalyst will be discussed in detail in this talk.REFERENCES Boretti, A., Rosa, L. Reassessing the projections of the World Water Development Report. npj Clean Water 2, 15 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41545-019-0039-9

Catalysts Containing Transition Metals on Nitrogen and Carbon Structures for Hydrogen Production through Salt Water Electrolysis

Hydrogen as an energy carrier is promising as it does not produce green-house gas (GHG) emissions at points of use and can be obtained from sources of low, or even neutral or negative GHG intensities [1,2]. One pathway to produce low emission hydrogen is water electrolysis when using a renewable power source [3]. However, freshwater, commonly used in this process, is relatively scarce, demand is high and expected to rise, and gets scarcer every day because of pollution [4,5,6]. An alternative is using saltwater, either through desalination or directly via adequate electrolysers [4]. Regarding direct use, a major challenge concerns catalyst, typically made of precious metals like Pt in the cathode, which are expensive, limited and susceptible to poisoning, e.g., by chlorine [7]. Likewise, in the anode chlorine is corrosive and reduces faradaic efficiency [4]. In this context, metal-coordinated nitrogen-carbon (M-N-C) nanostructures have proven to be attractive vis-à-vis these challenges [8]. To study their potential for saltwater electrolysis, five materials were synthesized following Malko et al. [8] using 1,5-diaminonaphthalene and 1% wt metallic sulphate salts of Co, Ni, Fe, Ni with Fe, and a blank without metal. The resulting material were suspended in 2-propanol and cast onto a vitreous carbon rotating ring disk electrode in both acidic solution 0,5M H2SO4 and saline medium 0,5M NaCl. Following electrode conditioning with cyclic voltammetries and electrochemical impedance characterization, linear sweep voltammetries (LSVs) were carried out in order to assess activity towards hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), coupled to hydrogen oxidation (HOR) at the Pt electrode in a ring-RDE (RRDE) fashion at constant potential of 0,3 V.The image presents HER and HOR plots in RRDE experiments at 1800 rpm, using either N-C or NiFe-N-C at a load of 0,27 mg cm-2 of catalyst at the disk and a Pt ring: (top) LSV at the disk (current normalized by geometric area, v = 2 mV/s), and (bottom) polarization at the Pt ring (E=0.3V vs NHE). Shown are both acidic medium (0.5 M H2SO4, N-C in 1 blue and NiFe-N-C in 2 red) and saline medium (0,5 M NaCl, N-C in 3 cyan and NiFe-N-C in 4 magenta). It was found that NiFe-N-C catalyst is active towards HER in saline medium at near neutral pH. As anticipated, the activity in acidic media is significantly higher than on saline medium, attributing this difference to several aspects such as conductivity limitations, chlorine presence and absence of free H+ ions and the need of additional steps for water dissociation [9]. In acidic media the metal-free catalyst (N-C) shows larger currents for most of the potential widow. On the other hand, the ring electrode does not show activity at all for N-C, thus it may be concluded that there is no H2 evolution and therefore the current is mostly capacitive, this capacitive contribution will be subtracted from the final results. In contrast, in saline medium N-C shows no activity at all towards HER, even showing smaller capacitive currents, while NiFe-C shows smaller albeit significant currents given the large differences in pH between media. The metal catalysts, the blank and a Pt/C in acidic and saline medium, will be compared using onset potentials, overpotentials at 10 mA/cm2 and Tafel slopes. References Blagojević , V. Minić, D. Minić D. & Grbović Novaković J. Hydrogen Economy: Modern Concepts, Challenges and Perspectives, Hydrogen Energy, IntechOpen (2012).Zhang,Y. & Zou, X. Noble metal-free hydrogen evolution catalysts for water splitting, Chemical Society Reviews, 15, (2015).IEA webstore, The Future of Hydrogen Seizing today´s opportunities, (2019).Dresp, S. Dionigi, F. Klingenhof, M. & Strasser, P. Direct Electrolytic Splitting of Seawater: Opportunities and Challenges, ACS Energy Letters (2019).Boretti, A. y Rosa L. Reassessing the projections of the World Water Development Report, npj Clean Water, 2, 15, (2019).Vos, J. & Koper, M. Measurement of competition between oxygen evolution and chlorine evolution using rotating ring-disk electrode voltammetry, Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, 819, (2018).Sethuraman, V. A. & .Weidner, J. W. Analysis of Sulfur Poisoning on a PEM Fuel Cell Electrode, Electrochimical acta, 55, 20, (2010).Malko, D. Lopes, T. Symianakis§a E. & Kucernak, A. The intriguing poison tolerance of non-precious metal oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts, Mater. Chem. A, 4, (2016).Zhou, Z. Pei, Z. Wei, L. Zhao, S. Jian, X. & Chen, Y. Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution under Neutral pH Conditions: Current Understandings, Recent Advances, and Future Prospects, Energy Environ. Sci., 10, (2020) Figure 1

Smart Water Technology for Efficient Water Resource Management: A Review

According to the United Nation’s World Water Development Report, by 2050 more than 50% of the world’s population will be under high water scarcity. To avoid water stress, water resources are needed to be managed more securely. Smart water technology (SWT) has evolved for proper management and saving of water resources. Smart water system (SWS) uses sensor, information, and communication technology (ICT) to provide real-time monitoring of data such as pressure, water ow, water quality, moisture, etc. with the capability to detect any abnormalities such as non-revenue water (NRW) losses, water contamination in the water distribution system (WDS). It makes water and energy utilization more efficient in the water treatment plant and agriculture. In addition, the standardization of data format i.e., use of Water Mark UP language 2.0 has made data exchange easier for between different water authorities. This review research exhibits the current state-of-the-art of the on-going SWT along with present challenges and future scope on the mentioned technologies. A conclusion is drawn that smart technologies can lead to better water resource management, which can lead to the reduction of water scarcity worldwide. High implementation cost may act as a barrier to the implementation of SWT in developing countries, whereas data security and its reliability along with system ability to give accurate results are some of the key challenges in its field implementation.

East Calcutta Wetlands, India: integrating sanitation, engineering and ecology

The East Calcutta Wetlands are an indispensable heritage of the city of Calcutta, India, and globally recognised as a partly natural, partly man-made ecosystem that sets an example in sustainable wastewater reuse. The 2017 UN World Water Development Report emphasised the vital role of the East Calcutta Wetlands in treating the city’s municipal sewage through biological methods, without the aid of a mechanical sewage treatment plant but with the help of the community, whose livelihood is connected to this work. Considering that, globally, only 20% of wastewater is treated, the looming water crisis raging through many Indian cities, increasing calls for conservation and proper utilisation of water sources such as rivers and wise use of water/wastewater, it is relevant to examine the dynamics of these wetlands. They afford timely lessons for urban wastewater management and sustainability of a tropical city with ample sunshine. The wetlands are an outcome of engineering innovation connected to a drainage outfall system. This paper examines the context of that innovation and the lessons they hold out for the urban future.

Covid19 pandemic as a further driver of water scarcity in Africa.

Population growth, even if coupled to economic growth, and resources, were already on a collision course, especially in Africa. The 2019 United Nations World Water Development Report provided a dramatic status of world water, however without questioning the main drivers of an imminent water crisis, that were unbounded, unequal, economic, and population growth, within the context of reducing resources in a finite world. Despite the report was a small step forward in awareness, still, it was not proposing satisfactory remedies. With business-as-usual, without acting on the drivers of water scarcity, regional water crises were inevitable in the next 3 decades, starting from Africa. Constrained by political, financial, and energy burdens, the technological improvements that have helped humanity to deal with the increased demand for water, food, and energy over the last 70 years, were likely not enough to avoid the water crisis. On top of forecast is the Covid19 pandemic. Coronavirus cases are (August 4, 2020) 18,446,065 and fatalities are 697,202 worldwide, and still growing. The containment measures enforced for Covid19 infection following the examples in the United Kingdom have already produced significant damage to the world economy. This will limit social expenditures in general, and the expenditures for the water issue in particular. The water crisis will consequently become worse in the next months, with consequences still difficult to predict. This will be true especially for Africa, where the main problem has always been poverty. There is the opportunity of significant health, food, and water crisis, especially in Africa. While the concepts of washing hands and social distancing that are difficult to apply haven’t produce so far major issues with the Covid19 outbreak in Africa, borders closure, restrictions on movement, and more poverty will translate in a lack of food and water potentially much more worrying than the virus spreading.

SPATIAL & TEMPORAL WATER BALANCE ANALYSIS CONSIDERING STRUCTURAL & NON-STRUCTURAL MEASURES IN THE CISANGKUY RIVER BASIN

One of the major challenges for sustainable development is to ensure that all people continue to have reliable access to water. According to the UN World Water Development Report, by 2050, at least one in four people are likely to live in a country affected by chronic shortage of water. Especially, the Cisangkuy river basin located in the south of Bandung Metropolitan has been suffering from serious water scarcity, river pollution, and flood damage due to rapid increase in population and industrialization in the Bandung Metropolitan and surrounding upstream area.In order to solve these complicated water management issues, it needs to implement innovative measures for integrated basin water management. As part of these efforts, a cooperative research project between Indonesia and Korea has initiated to develop smart water management system in the Cisangkuy river basin.This paper deals with the spatial-temporal water balance analysis and shows the results of effect analysis with regard to structural measures and non-structural measures. As the result of analysis, the implementation of non-structural measures including coordinated and optimal water facilities operation could contribute not only for securing additional water but also for promoting collaboration for integrated basin water.

Policy Note: "Addressing Trade-offs to Promote Safely Managed Wastewater in Developing Countries"

Policy Note: "Addressing Trade-offs to Promote Safely Managed Wastewater in Developing Countries"