Dr. Steven Duranceau (Professor, UCF CECE)

Title: 321,605,012 Reasons to Research Drinking Water

Abstract: Water is being recognized as a great priority, as all living creatures need water to exist. Although 1.1 billion people have inadequate access to clean water in developing countries, the United States enjoys one of the world’s most reliable and safest supplies of drinking water as Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in 1974 to protect public health by regulating public water systems (focused on water quality). The SDWA has been strengthened and expanded over the years; over 151,000 public water systems provide potable water to most Americans. Although water quality is affected natural processes, ecosystem characteristics and human activities, including industry, domestic and agricultural uses, the source supplies must be treated for consumption. At UCF, studying the varying treatment processes and associated operations required to produce safe drinking water are a dynamic research area within the Environmental Engineering program. Dr. Duranceau’s research group studies many chemistry-related topics regarding drinking water quality and treatment engineering applications. This presentation will highlight some recent headlines related to drinking water, and discuss some of the research being conducted at UCF in this regard.

Biographical Sketch: Dr. Steven J. Duranceau is a Professor of Environmental Engineering and Director of the Environmental Systems Engineering Institute at UCF. He is an internationally recognized authority in the engineering and application of membrane desalination processes for producing drinking water. Dr. Steve has supervised a number of Doctoral and Master’s students that have conducted drinking water research in Florida, Georgia, California, and the Cayman, Hawaiian and Marianas Islands. He currently serves on the editorial advisory boards of the Journal of the American Water Works Association and the Journal of Desalination and Water Treatment. He is a licensed professional engineer in Florida.