11 Dr. Onita Basu still vividly remembers the exact moment she decided to devote her career to sustainable water solutions and practices. “I was in a second year chemical engineering lab working with a solution of water that looked relatively clean,” she recalls. “When I passed the water through a treatment process I was shocked to see an incredible amount of dissolved copper emerge from the solution and begin coating onto various surfaces. It was an eye opening experience to realize that we cannot always tell what is in our water.” Now an Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering and Associate Chair of Graduate Studies in Carleton’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Basu still believes that startling realization from years past hasn’t lost its impact. “The pressure that is placed on our natural resources has never been greater than it is today,” she says. “The more people we have on our planet, the more difficult it becomes to manage the health of our water systems.” In an effort to help alleviate some of the pressure caused by a surging population, Basu is currently engaged in biofiltration research, which utilizes the growth of beneficial microbes in filter systems to help remove organic contaminants. Employing this technique provides a viable alternative to chemical treatment options, resulting in a cleaner and more sustainable water treatment process. Beyond the health of water itself, Basu also understands the importance of improving the sustainability of activities related to its treatment. Carleton’s Female Leaders Developing Sustainable Solutions “Removing pollution from water requires energy, but energy production also requires water, which in many cases results in its contamination,” she explains. “It creates a vicious cycle between water and energy needs.” To stabilize this systemic flaw, Basu has been investigating both direct and indirect methods of decreasing energy requirements for water treatment, focusing on elements such as how pumps are operated or how chemical treatments can be reduced, as they too require energy to produce, transport and deploy into the water treatment process. While water may be the key to life, there’s no denying that the call for sustainability extends beyond our lakes and rivers to include the energy sector. With that in mind, Dr. Cynthia Cruickshank, Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, has dedicated her research towards developing advanced building energy systems and optimizing the applications of solar energy. In addition to the obvious environmental benefits of reducing our society’s dependency on non-renewable energy sources, Cruickshank emphasizes how increased investment in sustainable energy will help to develop long-term energy security within Canada and beyond. “Currently, we rely heavily upon finite resources that will eventually run out or reach a point where they are no longer financially viable to retrieve or refine,” she explains. “Shifting towards sustainable and renewable sources will help to establish greater diversity in our energy infrastructure and enable us to mitigate or even Environmental engineering associate professor Dr. Onita Basu is conducting biofilter research in Carleton’s Sustainable Water Treatment Laboratory.