IT Sligo Research Capability in Water &Wastewater Dr Billy Fitzgerald Head of Department of Environmental Science

1. IT Sligo Research Capability in Water &Wastewater Dr Billy Fitzgerald Head of Department of Environmental Science

2. 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

3. 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

4. Thematic Areas

5. R&D Collaborations to date • EPA • Inland Fisheries Ireland • Teagasc • Bordna Mona • Northern Ireland Water • Local Authorities • Numerous Industrial Sectors • Water & Wastewater Treatment Companies • Invasive Species Control • Chemical & Pharmaceutical • Energy Production • Biomass Production

6. 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)

7. 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

9. 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

10. Rory Sheehan: Asian clam survey Invasive Species Research Sara Meehan: Zebra mussel control

11. Catchment management planning-minimising 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

12. Photocatalysis for disinfection: How does it work? Pillai et al, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 125, 2013, 331– 349

13. 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

14. Collaborators