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For World Water Day 2021, we invited Dr Anita Etale, Research Scientist at the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa), to discuss her research published with our partner platform, AAS Open Research. Here, Dr Etale shares the motivations behind her research into the use of locally available nanomaterials as a cost-effective method for providing a clean water supply, and the importance of open research in this area.

I am a Research Scientist working in the field of nanomaterials. I am interested not only in the application of nanomaterials for scientific applications such as water treatment, but also how people – end users – perceive this approach to water treatment. This is because I believe that public acceptance is key to the success of any technological solution.

Nanoscience is simply the study of materials at the nanometre scale. Most of us are familiar with materials at the centimetre or millimetre scale, but what is interesting and often useful is that these same materials can have very different properties when they are reduced to the nanometre scale. Reduction to this scale, for example, increases surface area of the material, and this is very useful when designing adsorbents for the removal of water pollutants.

My research group at the University of the Witwatersrand has been looking at ways of using nano-sized cellulose for treatment of mining-contaminated water. Our city has a history of gold mining, but as a result, some of our ground and surface water is contaminated with such toxic elements as arsenic, mercury and chromium. Our approach is to develop low-cost treatment systems by using locally available agricultural wastes e.g., sugarcane bagasse, as cellulose sources.

What inspired you and your team to investigate drinking water?

Difficult as it may be to imagine when one looks at the infrastructure, just like many other cities in Africa and the developing world, Johannesburg also has residents that do not have access to clean water.

There are a number of informal settlements housing people who have come to the big city seeking work and better fortunes. These often have no access to services including water, and residents therefore make use of whatever sources are available to them, including surface water that may be contaminated by mine overspills upstream.

As one can imagine, these people – who already earn very little – will, in the mid to long-term, be faced with health challenges, use their meagre resources to address these challenges instead of improving their fortunes and those of their families, thus perpetuating the cycle of poverty. Making a contribution, however small, to breaking this cycle, is what drives me.

What challenges have you had to overcome in conducting your research?

The biggest challenge has been obtaining sufficient and consistent funding to drive this research.

What impact do you feel your research has or could have on the overall goal of achieving clean water and sanitation?

There are a number of water treatment innovations on the market already. However, some are unaffordable to the low-income population they are targeted at. Furthermore, most are developed without knowledge of local contexts. We believe that our research, which combines both the technical aspects of filter development and an understanding of the local context, make a significant contribution to increasing access to clean water and breaking the cycle of poverty.

What is the next step for your research? What are you interested in exploring next?

We are currently working to optimize the use of cellulose for removal of a host of toxic elements from surface water. After this, we will be embarking on the search for an industrial partner and commercialisation.

When researching drinking water and sanitation, what role does open research have in advancing the field?

Management of the COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that the challenges now facing humanity cannot be tackled in isolation; we have to act together, in cooperation. Open access publishing makes cooperation possible and allows researchers to build on previous work, thereby hastening progress. It also allows the public, which often funds the research in the first place, to have access to it. Finally, open access and transparency can help to address the challenge of trust in science and scientists that breeds such issues as vaccine scepticism. Ultimately, it is in the best interests of not only the scientific community, but also society in general that science is as open, accessible and transparent as possible.

Finally, do you have any additional comments you would like to add around World Water Day and the importance of research in this area?

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened understanding on how important adequate access to water is.

This year’s World Water Day should be a reminder that access to clean water has wide-reaching implications. Nevertheless, it is important that while we strive to provide clean water in order to reduce the often more immediate consequences, e.g., infant mortality due to microbiological contamination, we must not lose sight of inorganic contaminants that may have significant impacts on long term health.

Read Dr Etale’s Research Article, ‘Synthesis and application of cationised cellulose for removal of Cr(VI) from acid mine-drainage contaminated water’ via AAS Open Research >>

Also for World Water Day, we invited Mutono Nyamai from the University of Nairobi (Kenya) to discuss her research on the nexus between safe water supply and health outcomes for urbanizing populations.

Read the full interview here >>