Carleton Centre Maximizing Research
By Dan Rubinstein
Photos by Chris Roussakis
More than 1.25 billion people live in India — one-sixth of the world’s population. It is a country in the midst of enormous social, economic and technological change.
To help manage this transition, India’s Ministry of Urban Development has launched a multibillion-dollar Smart Cities initiative, with the goal of providing 100 cities with important infrastructure and services, such as an adequate supply of clean water, robust digital connectivity and efficient public transportation.
Banu Örmeci, a professor in Carleton’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Canada Research Chair in Wastewater Treatment Engineering, is an expert in small-scale wastewater treatment systems in developing counties and remote communities.
Örmeci is already active overseas, chairing the International Water Association’s sludge management group.
Her work could help Smart Cities address the water supply and sanitation needs of dozens of rapidly growing cities, but India can be a difficult landscape to navigate for foreign researchers and companies.
Enter Carleton’s Canada-India Centre for Excellence in Science, Technology, Trade and Policy, which is headquartered in the River Building. Örmeci is working with the centre to help bring new and innovative water and wastewater treatment technologies to India. This could entail deploying a technology that already exists or developing a new low-cost, low-energy water or wastewater treatment method.