The pollution of groundwater with arsenic through natural or anthropogenic processes, and the subsequent long-term exposure through drinking water, threatens human health on a global scale. Though serious risks are known to occur in developing countries such as Bangladesh, China and India, high blood concentrations have been found in the UK with the residents of Devon and Cornwall. Due to the severe health effects of arsenic (the most toxic element known to humans), most governments worldwide including the US and UK have recently lowered the admissible arsenic concentration in drinking water to 10 ng/ml. Achieving these new stringent threshold values poses real challenges to the water industry and current treatment devices struggle to meet these criteria. One of the foremost reasons for these failures is that the processes currently employed (namely adsorption on iron and activated aluminium oxide substrates) are adversely affected by the presence of small concentrations of phosphorous and silica in the waters, which in turn significantly diminish the performance and life span of the treatment plants. Here we suggest a novel approach based on a combination of two different sorbents, with different treatment tasks. The first stage is composed of a bi-composite synthesised of TiO2 and Fe2O3. This device has been designed to remove phosphorus and silica from the waters and to oxidise any arsenic(III) that might be present to arsenic(V) (i.e. arsenate). This pre-treated water then passes through a second stage, which is composed of an arsenic specific chemical receptor. This second treatment step will be based on metallo-receptors with high affinity for oxoanions such as arsenate. The ultimate outcome of the project is a novel low cost water treatment device using the technologies described above with a long live span that will remove arsenic from water below the levels currently considered to be unacceptable. In order to understand the mechanisms of the arsenic interaction with the bi-composite and the metallo-receptor, we will conduct extensive chemisorptive studies of the functionalised materials and determine the key factors that need optimising for efficient binding. This work will include spectroscopic investigation using various techniques such as synchrotron radiation and nuclear magnetic resonance. Our findings will also have fundamental implications on our understanding of the environmental chemistry of arsenic and oxyanions in groundwater.

The wastewater treatment process (WWTP) plays a critical role in providing clean water. However, emerging and predominately unregulated, bioactive chemicals such as steroids and pharmaceutical drugs are being increasingly detected in surface waters that receive wastewater effluent. Although present at low concentrations, their inherent bioactive nature has been linked to abnormalities in aquatic organisms and there are also water reuse and human health implications. As part of the urban water cycle, the WWTP is the gatekeeper to the surface waters e.g. rivers. Pharmaceuticals enter wastewater treatment from inappropriate disposal of unused drugs to the sink/toilet or via landfill. Prescribed or illicit drug use also has the inevitable consequence of being metabolised in the human body (to parent, Phase I / II metabolites) and excreted in urine, which subsequently enters the WWTP. Coupled with naturally produced and excreted bioactive steroids, the challenge for wastewater treatment is that it was never designed to remove these bioactive chemicals and is inefficient. Evaluating the prevalence and fate of a steroid or pharmaceutical in the WWTP is challenging as human enzymatic metabolism causes the bioactive chemical to exist in multiple forms - parent, Phase I and Phase II metabolites. Phase II metabolites predominate urine excretion and are the starting products entering the wastewater environment. They therefore act as the precursors to the biotransformations that take place during treatment and produce the Phase I and/or parent forms of the bioactive chemical. Before treatment technologies can be developed and evaluated for pharmaceutical and steroid removal in the WWTP, our understanding needs to improve on how the different bioactive chemical forms behave, and their relationships to each other. This means identifying the biotransformations between metabolites and parent forms. To achieve this requires a move from targeted analysis - we analyse for what we expect to see - to develop methods that are non-targeted and search for Phase II metabolites and their associated Phase I / parent forms. Drawing on inspiration from metabolomics approaches used in the biosciences, the aim of this proposal is to develop a novel non-target method to identify bioactive chemical Phase II metabolites and their biotransformation products in wastewater. Knowledge of Phase II metabolite occurrence and fate in the wastewater environment is important in assessing the impact of user behaviour, process and environmental factors or bioactive chemical parent removal. This will inform on WWTP efficiency, provide data for optimising models that predict pharmaceuticals and steroids, and evaluate environmental risk.

SummaryThe research will develop and apply analytical methods to study the occurrence, fate and significance of two very different groups of chemicals for which there is growing evidence that they are likely to be present in the aquatic environment in amounts that are of concern. The first of these groups, the benzotriazoles, are utilised in industry, amongst other applications as anticorrosive agents, and in the home they fulfil the same function when formulated into dishwasher detergents. With greater ownership of dishwashers in the UK it is likely that discharge of these compounds to wastewater treatment works will increase. Evidence that concentrations in some European rivers are above safe levels would indicate that in the UK, where a significant proportion of flow to the rivers is from sewage effluent, a similar situation may exist.The second group of chemicals to be studied are the progestogens, which includes the natural hormone progesterone and a number of synthetic progesterones utilised in contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy. These compounds will certainly be present in wastewaters through excretion by those taking them and evidence from studies with estrogens would indicate that they will be removed to differing degrees by wastewater treatment processes and hence be discharged to the environment. It has been known for over three decades that hormonally-active micropollutants can, and sometimes do, adversely affect aquatic organisms, with one example being the feminisation of fish by estrogens. However, research on estrogenic micropollutants in the aquatic environment is now slowing, but the lessons to come from it are having considerable ramifications, and opening up many different avenues of research. If estrogens are present in the aquatic environment, why not synthetic progestogens? Natural progesterones play an important role in reproduction in fish, controlling maturation in both sexes and they also function as pheromones at extremely low concentrations. As synthetic progestogens are effective in humans, and are designed to resist degradation, their presence in effluents discharged to rivers is very likely, and probably the only real issue is at what concentration do synthetic progestogens cause adverse effects on aquatic organisms (particularly fish), and how different is this concentration to those in the aquatic environment.The outcome of the study will provide data on the concentrations of both of these groups of compounds in wastewaters and in particular will focus on their removal in both traditional wastewater treatment processes and selected advanced treatment processes. This is of significance as, at present our understanding and observational data indicates that the compounds are poorly removed in traditional wastewater treatment plants.. The significance of concentrations observed in receiving waters will be related to known data on effects and will inform regulators on the quality of the water bodies.

Climate change impacts, such as droughts, wildfires and floods, are increasing, particularly affecting vulnerable groups living near river and coastal areas. Global climate action narratives are problematic with top-down doom and gloom narratives, which often fail to meet targets; green growth and de-growth narratives, criticised for unequal access to green innovation and slow change; and transformative 'win-win' narratives, involving bottom-up activities like increasing blue-green infrastructure. These narratives create barriers to social learning when trade-offs in implementation are ignored. Climate action opportunities (e.g. after the extreme Summer 2007 floods) are also fleeting, often overlooked by politicians and media. However, no global plan has emerged to consider future climate impacts or transfer these lessons elsewhere. Urgent action is needed to find new ways of communities co-creating their own local place-based climate action narratives. Researchers argue that local people, being the most informed about climate impacts, need to be central in decision-making. Despite this need for local voices, community-engaged methods for climate action are lacking. Existing infrastructure approaches have failed to adequately restore and conserve resources for vulnerable groups facing climate stress. Consequently, local people need emotional, financial, and inclusive support to implement immediate and effective climate actions aligned with their local knowledge. The new interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary theatre-based approach in Climate Collaboratorium offers novelty, high risk, and high reward. The project focuses on water security issues affecting vulnerable communities, particularly youth and seniors living near rivers. In the UK, river-side towns of Tewkesbury and Shrewsbury are working on flood resilience and water security plans amidst worsening climate extremes. However, intergenerational perspectives and involvement in these conversations are limited. The proposed approach centres on knowledge-exchange rather than monitoring, involving vulnerable voices in creation of artistic products that reflect their experiences of climate change. This approach aims to blend scientific and local narratives, promoting bottom-up climate action and shifting responsibilities and agency from environmental managers and scientists to local communities. As nations strive to tackle water challenges, four teams (Canada, Germany, UK and US) are joining forces to create a skilled cohort of academics/professionals, ready to explore how climate action can enhance infrastructure, water, and livelihood security within specific river catchments at local scale, and how local teams can share insights to grow global lessons and action. The team includes social, climate, natural, and policy scientists; global climate change data networks; theatre designers/actors, directors/scriptwriters; Indigenous scholars; bias/inclusion experts; and environmental professionals in four river/estuaries. The UK team combines drama, geography and hydroclimate expertise to address water security and climate change adaptation. The team, with extensive experience in environmental management and community-based interdisciplinary research, is planning to co-create a performance piece using stories from flood-affected communities. Their approach focuses on community engagement and inclusive participatory research. They are partnering with climate network managers to plan climate change materials as workshop prompts, co-produce adaptation/mitigation strategies based on scientific evidence, and plan sharing of these co-produced intergenerational options with international partners. Their interdisciplinary background in community theatre, hydrological sciences and community water management allows them to work with communities to create place-based action that addresses risks to living standards through resilient water security and climate resilience.

The water industry is increasingly under pressure to achieve high standards of treated waste water discharges in particular in relation to nutrients, minimising carbon footprint, and at the same time, minimising capital and operational costs. This generates a new and challenging framework for waste water treatment technology optimisation to achieve, not only compliance, process robustness and resilience but also to reduce associated carbon and economic costs. Therefore, the water industry need new approaches to provide solutions for environmental and health protection. This programme examines new biological modelling approaches for a fixed film process (rotating biological contactor - RBC) which is one of the most prominent low energy technologies used at thousands of small scale treatment works in the UK. The purpose of this work is to explore the underlying mechanisms that influence and limit RBC performance through the development and application of a new approach to biological fixed film models for nutrient removal. Engineering aspects such as rotation speed, aeartion and media type are known to affect pollutant removal by the biofim. Recent advances in the understanding of biofilm development, nitrification process requirements, potential effects of rotational speed (Di Palma and Verdone 2009), and attempts to model oxygen transfer (Kubsad et al. 2004, Chavan and Mukherji 2008) provide a new opportunity for optimising and rationalising biofim modelling and thus RBC design and operation. The work programme will include a critical review of past approaches to RBC optimization and biofilm development models. In addition, data mining will be conducted on Severn Trent's records to characterise the robustness and resilience of the process. The project partner has over 350 small sewage works which have employed RBCs for secondary treatment of domestic waste waters throughout the past 20 years. Experimental trials will be conducted to validate the modelling approach. The project has a significant impact in the training of the researchers of the future. The doctoral student will be embedded within the water industry on a leading-edge research topic. The studnet will attend the Schools Research Training Programme (http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/soe/esrstp/) and so develop research investigation and communication skills. In addition technical training will be achieved through the completion of taught MSc models in the Centre for Water Science this will enable the researcher to possess expert knowledge in their specialist field of biological processes and also be able to deploy methods and techniques that balance social, environmental, economic, and engineering considerations. Whilst completing their research programme at Severn Trent they will receive business training relating to effective project management and will become familiar with business processes and client needs. The results from this work will provide a better understanding of a robust, low energy technology for achieving increasingly tighter demands for environmental and health protection, thus contributing both to the scientific understanding of processes within the reactors and informing the design of the technological application within the water industry. The project will necessarily entail the implementation of research methods from various disciplines, such as process engineering and environmental science among others, to deliver a biofim model and thus improved RBC operation and design that is robust not only in terms of treatment performance but is also embedding the importance of carbon footprint in waste water treatment process optimisation. The impact of this work will be to deliver a new modelling approach for biological fixed film processes which can be applied to thousands of sites to optimise pollutant removal at the lowest carbon cost.