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IT Sligo
Research Capability in Water &Wastewater
Dr Billy Fitzgerald
Head of Department of Environmental Science
Brief Background
• 40 years experience in the area of
Environmental Science/Management and
Environmental Engineering
• Significant success with Open & Distance
Learning (ODL) and on-line courses
• Courses available from Levels 6 - 10
• Principal Investigators in this Strategic Research
Centre are Interdisciplinary
• CERIS is internationally engaged in water and
wastewater research through collaboration with
industries, agencies and other academic institutions
€1.54 M in research funding
Thematic Areas
Applied
Ecology
Resource
Management
• Agroecology
• Ecosystem Management and Restoration
• Ecosystem Services
• Invasive Species
• Molecular Ecology
• Water and Wastewater Management
• Energy Management
• Bioremediation of soils
• Nutrient Management
• Sustainability systems
R&D Collaborations to date
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EPA
Inland Fisheries Ireland
Teagasc
Bord na Mona
Northern Ireland Water
Local Authorities
Numerous Industrial Sectors
– Water & Wastewater Treatment Companies
– Invasive Species Control
– Chemical & Pharmaceutical
– Energy Production
– Biomass Production
Examples of R&D Projects
• Optimisation of Management of Wastewater Treatment Plants
• Wastewater Treatability Studies (Pilot Plants)
• Phosphorus Recovery from On-Site WWTPs
• Environmental Public Health: Monitoring of Cryptosporidium,
Giardia, harmful algal blooms (HABS)
• Toxic Cyanobacteria: Health, Ecological dynamics & Water
Quality
• Catchment management planning-minimising risk of nutrient
export to water resources (specialist expertise in agricultural
systems)
Examples of R&D Projects
• Aquatic Invasive Species: Risk analysis, monitoring, control
and management
• Ecological assessments of surface waters (WFD)
• Ecosystem management and restoration
• Restoration of degraded peatland and wetland ecosystems
- improving water regulatory and C sequestration services
TOXIC CYANOBACTERIA : HEALTH, ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS & WATER QUALITY
- Biological indicators for lake trophic status assessment
- Community succession, lake connectivity and mesoscale dispersion dynamics
- Analysis of hepatotoxin and neurotoxin producing species in Irish water bodies
- Molecular community fingerprinting and toxic chemotype succession
Invasive Species Research
Sara Meehan: Zebra mussel
control
Rory Sheehan: Asian clam
survey
• Catchment
management planningminimising risk of
nutrient export to
water resources
(specialist expertise in
agricultural systems)
• Restoration of
degraded peatland and
wetland ecosystems improving water
regulatory and C
sequestration services
Photocatalysis for disinfection: How does it work?
Pillai et al, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 125, 2013, 331– 349
US-Ireland R&D Partnership
(Supported by NSF (USA), SFI and InvestNI; Funding US$1.1 million)
China
Degradation
mechanism
of
Cyanotoxins Using Novel Visible
Light-Activated Titania (TiO2)
Photocatalysts
London
Binder Lake, Iowa,
USA
Total [microcystin]=40
µg/L
http://toxics.usgs.gov/highlights/algal
_toxins/
Graham, 2010, Environmental Science
and Technology, 44 (19):7361–7368
Collaborators