BC Medical Journal – New partnership aims to reduce waterborne illness

BC Medical Journal – New partnership aims to reduce waterborne illness

More than three million children worldwide die from water-related diseases each year (almost half are from India). Even in Canada, more than 5 million people do not have access to a reliable source of clean drinking water. To reduce water-related diseases and improve water quality, Canada and India have joined forces through the new Water for Health partnership. Water for Health will focus on improving monitoring and management of waterborne diseases, wastewater treatment and impacts on water quality, water purification biotechnologies, biosensors for heavy metals identification, and sustainable wastewater infrastructure and management.

IC-IMPACTS and the Government of India, through its Department of Biotechnology, have each committed $1.5 million to the new research partnership.Nemy Banthia, CEO and Scientific Director of IC-IMPACTS and a professor in the Faculty of Applied Science at UBC, is hopeful the program will lead to technological breakthroughs to bring safe drinking water to millions of people.