Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2018NJ398B

Development of An Innovative and Resilient Emergency Water Treatment (EWT) for Natural Disasters

Institute: New Jersey
Year Established: 2018 Start Date: 2018-03-01 End Date: 2019-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $5,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $11,754

Principal Investigators: Junkui Cui, Yang Deng

Project Summary: Frequency and magnitude of natural disasters, such as hurricanes, have been increased over the past centuries. Clean water is a top priority for disaster-affected populations for drinking, cooking, and hygiene. Once bottled water is rapidly used up in the aftermath of disasters, other water sources ought to be sought. However, the water is most likely polluted, to different degrees, by various pollution sources. The current emergency water treatment (EWT) that FEMA recommends, including boiling, chlorination, and distillation, are not all feasible or technically effective at an emergency. Therefore, there is an urgent research need to develop innovative EWT technologies. The primary purpose of this proposed project is to acquire necessary experimental data for the utilization of ferrate (VI) for emergency water treatment in the aftermath of natural disasters. The central hypothesis is 1) that ferrate(VI) is capable of effectively inactivating pathogenic indicators and removing toxic metals and metalloids in contaminated stormwater and surface water; and 2) that ferrate(VI) resultant particles can be largely removed by simple and effective solid-liquid separation techniques. Two specific objectives will be pursued: 1) to determine the treatment performance for disinfection and removal of toxic metals in polluted water; and 2) to evaluate and select solid-liquid separation methods for the removal of ferrate(VI) resultant particles. Knowledge obtained will advance ferrate (VI) chemistry for water treatment application to provide reliable water supply in the aftermath of natural disasters. Data acquired will become part of the PI’s dissertation and will also be preliminary results to support a follow-on proposal.