Fate and Management of Emerging Contaminants (FAME)
Project disclaimer
Description
Owing to on-going demographic shifts, urbanisation and changing life styles supported by rapid industrialisation, pollution by so-called emerging contaminants (ECs) is an emerging environmental and public health concern in India, the UK and globally. Pharmaceuticals, personal-care products, pesticides & industrial compounds, are collectively known as ECs. They lead to, among other effects, increasing antibiotic resistance and endocrine disruption in aquatic animals and possibly humans. Conventional wastewater treatment plants (WTPs) have a mixed performance in dealing with such contaminants and might even be adversely affected by the ECs in treating more conventional pollutants. There is also evidence that WTPs can act as reservoirs of antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria. Due to limited availability of data, the fate of ECs in the environment and wastewater treatment remains under-investigated, limiting our ability to provide targeted cost effective treatment. The research aims to study the sources and fate of ECs and their interactions in receiving waters and WTPs and develop novel and sustainable management strategies to improve water quality. In the project, two rivers will be monitored: the Yamuna in the north (in the most polluted stretch, contributing to 70% of Delhi's water supply needs) & the Cauvery in the south (the most abstracted river in India). Investigations will also be made on the fate of ECs during wastewater and sludge treatment line at 10 WTPs in India and compared with selected plants in the UK. Investigations will also include, the fate of ECs during the treatment and use of bio-solids. The work will help to develop evidence based wastewater discharge standards and guidance for safe use of contaminated sludge. We will also look to develop novel, cost effective and fit for purpose solutions for the treatment of ECs in urban and rural communities. Several approaches will be investigated including zero/limited energy consuming natural treatment systems configurations; and space saving systems based on the development and novel application of a new generation of adsorbents; energy efficient membranes and chemicals free treatment. The work will help the development of design and operation guidance for optimal treatment systems requiring limited input from O&M staff. Finally, we intend to develop a novel decision support system to automatically generate and identify sustainable treatment strategies as a function of user defined constraints and contexts. This will serve as a negotiation tool to visualise the impact of different stakeholders objectives and preferences. The tool will be trialled with a range of end users in India and UK.
Objectives
The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with developing countries across the world to promote the economic development and social welfare of the partner countries.
Location
The country, countries or regions that benefit from this Programme.
Status Post-completion
The current stage of the Programme, consistent with the International Aid Transparency Initiative's (IATI) classifications.
Programme Spend
Programme budget and spend to date, as per the amounts loaded in financial system(s), and for which procurement has been finalised.
Participating Organisation(s)
Help with participating organisations
Accountable:Organisation responsible for oversight of the activity
Extending: Organisation that manages the budget on behalf of the funding organisation.
Funding: Organisation which provides funds.
Implementing: Organisations implementing the activity.
- Accountable
- Extending
- Funding
- Implementing
Sectors
Sector groups as a percentage of total Programme budget according to the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) classifications.
Budget
A comparison across financial years of forecast budget and spend to date on the Programme.
Download IATI Data for GB-GOV-13-FUND--Newton-NE_R003548_1