# Water Quality

**Source**: https://www.hbku.edu.qa/en/qeeri/water-center/water-quality
**Parent**: https://www.hbku.edu.qa/en/qeeri/water-center

## Overview

Advancing water safety and resilience through contaminant removal, real-time monitoring, and wastewater
epidemiology for stronger environmental health.

## Projects

- INACT- Integrated Adsorptive, Catalytic, and Membrane-Based
  Treatment for the Removal of Emerging Contaminants from Water
- WATCH - Wastewater Surveillance of Emerging Pathogens and
  Antimicrobial Resistance in Qatar
- DROPS - Resilient Water Quality Driven Framework for Sustainable
  Water Management

This project aims to address the presence of emerging contaminants, particularly per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and pharmaceuticals, in Qatar’s treated sewage effluent
(TSE) and drinking water. The first phase will focus on the detection and quantification of
these contaminants using high-resolution liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry (LC-MS),
to establish Qatar’s first national baseline for PFAS and pharmaceutical pollution. This
will provide critical data for understanding exposure risks and inform regulatory and
operational decisions.

Following baseline establishment, the project will develop a multi-stage treatment system
combining membrane filtration, computational modeling, adsorption, and catalytic
degradation. Membrane separation will serve as a pre-concentration step to enhance
downstream treatment. Computational modeling will predict interactions between contaminants
and engineered surfaces, guiding the design of efficient adsorbents such as functionalized
biochar, polymers, and hybrid materials. Catalytic materials will be synthesized to degrade
retained contaminants through oxidative and reductive pathways. LC-MS will be used
throughout to monitor both parent compounds and transformation products.

The project is closely aligned with national water quality goals, with Kahramaa, Qatar’s
national water utility, serving as the primary stakeholder due to their responsibility for
water quality management and implementation. It also maintains an active research agreement
with ExxonMobil Research Qatar, focused on PFAS detection and treatment development. In
addition, there is a potential opportunity for future collaboration with Qatar LNG, as they
explore advanced water treatment technologies.

This work directly contributes to Qatar National Vision 2030 and Sustainable Development
Goal 6 by advancing water security and sustainable treatment innovation.

Wastewater represents a convergence of human and environmental health, offering a powerful
lens to monitor infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at the population
level. This project focuses on establishing an advanced environmental health surveillance
framework, leveraging wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) to generate predictive
intelligence that strengthens Qatar’s public health preparedness. In Qatar, rapid
urbanization, population mobility, and environmental pressures create conditions for
emerging diseases and resistance spread, including zoonotic risks. To address this, the
project will systematically collect and analyze wastewater from municipal treatment plants,
healthcare discharges, and coastal waters. Using metagenomic sequencing and targeted qPCR
assays, it will enable early detection of circulating pathogens, AMR genes, and potential
zoonotic threats.

The initiative will be implemented in close collaboration with the Ministry of Public
Health (MOPH), the Ministry of Municipality, and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), while
remaining aligned with regional and international WHO guidelines. By combining
methodological innovation with strategic stakeholder engagement, the project will establish
an early warning system for outbreaks, identify AMR hotspots, and guide evidence-based
interventions.

Beyond protecting public health, the system will generate insights that can indirectly
support national sectors such as agriculture and dairy, where zoonotic and AMR risks may
emerge. The initiative directly supports the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the Third
National Health Strategy (2024–2030) by advancing sustainable health systems, antimicrobial
stewardship, and pandemic preparedness. Ultimately, this effort will position Qatar as a
regional leader in integrated environmental surveillance, strengthening multisectoral
coordination and laboratory capacity to ensure resilient, proactive health protection.

This project establishes an integrated water management framework to enhance Qatar's
resilience to arid climate impacts such as rising temperatures, high evaporation rates,
increased salinity, and variability in water availability, alongside pressures from
urbanization and natural environmental factors that affect water quality. It combines
advanced real-time monitoring of the water distribution network with a holistic analysis of
water quality, utilization, and cost at the household level. The project will leverage the
Education City Living Lab as a testbed to monitor water quality from the desalination plant
to the tap, assessing where and why it declines. It also responds to the growing need for
greater visibility and transparency regarding the quality of water people consume.
Concurrently, it will investigate consumer behavior and the economic and environmental costs
of reliance on bottled water. The framework is supported by the development of novel
technologies, including smart household filtration systems and advanced atmospheric water
generation (AWG). This hybrid AWG unit integrated with smart filtration will be designed to
provide a safe and reliable water source for both human consumption and agricultural
applications. A key component involves screening for microplastics in bottled water to
scientifically quantify the environmental impact of plastic waste. The ultimate goal is to
provide a data-driven framework for policy recommendations that improve water quality,
promote tap water utilization, reduce household costs, and minimize environmental impact.