Associate Professor: School of Chemical and Minerals Engineering, North-West University received the award ‘For monitoring environmental water to raise awareness among poor communities and nationally’. His research focuses on the prediction of the dispersion of inorganic and organic pollutants from industrial areas into surface water sources, the monitoring of water quality and the development of sustainable treatment methods.

Water pollution is a serious global threat to the environment and the future of our planet. In South Africa, the quality of fresh water is being affected by increased pollution caused by a number of factors including urbanisation, deforestation, the destruction of wetlands, agriculture, industry and mining.

Acid mine drainage is on the rise, leading to the destruction of aquatic ecosystems and damaging the quality of water used by communities in poor and rural areas.

“The mapping of the potential pollution risk associated with mining sites enables us to predict the impact on the quality of the water sources and the quantity of usable water available to communities living close to mining sites,” says Professor Elvis Fosso-Kankeu, associate professor at the School of Chemical and Mineral Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering at North-West University. (Read more about her in the Mail & Guardian article. Mail & Guardian is an NSTF media partner.)