Prof. Dr. Ashok Vaseashta, Executive Director of Research for the International Clean Water Institute in Virginia, United States, presented his views on Water Safety, Security, and Sustainability on Risk Roundup.
Need For Water Safety, Security, and Sustainability
Clean water supplies are becoming unsustainable, unsecure, and unsafe. While the availability of clean, fresh water is crucial to nations’ economic, environmental, and social systems, it is also fundamental for human life, its survival, and security. Since the amount of fresh water is finite and makes up approximately 2.5 percent of all water on the Earth, ensuring its availability, safety, security, and sustainability has become fundamental.
Because the water supply is finite, the potential for water-related conflicts is leading to water-use conflicts and will likely increase and become more acute as demand increases. So, we must evaluate the state of clean water and assess water safety, security, and sustainability problems that are increasing stress on global water supplies. In addition, it is also essential to appraise water conservation methods and technology that may be inadequate to meet the needs of an increasing global population. Also, it is fundamental for nations to understand what their freshwater availability depends on and whether there is an even distribution of fresh water.
It is well known that heavy rains, flooding, bioterror, bio error, cyber-attack, and more could create particularly severe water contamination problems that can be fatal. So, the question is:
- How are nations monitoring contamination cyber-attack and bioterror problems?
- Where are the security issues emerging?
- What are the most common types of hazards affecting water security?
- Where is the conflict emerging?
- What do nations’ water security strategies depend on?
- What are the strategies for water security?
- Where does the focus need to be?
Understanding the complex interdependency of water with other life-support systems and critical infrastructures is essential. It is crucial to evaluate whether:
- Nations have adequate surveillance for their water infrastructure.
- Nations have data platforms for effective monitoring of water scarcity, energy, and environmental degradation.
- Nations have active alert systems to notify communities of the danger.
- Nations can apply emerging technologies to the problem of water safety, security, and sustainability issues.
The time is now to ensure Water Safety, Security and Sustainability. For more, please watch the Risk Roundup Webcast or hear the Risk Roundup Podcast
About the Guest
Prof. Dr. Ashok Vaseashta is Executive Director for research with the International Clean Water Institute in Virginia, USA. He also serves as a Professor at Riga Technical University, Chaired Professor of Nanotechnology at the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Academician at Euro-Mediterranean Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Senior Strategic Research Advisor for several organizations. Inspired by nature and guided by societal necessities, he strives for technological innovations to extricate the global challenges of the 21st century. His research interests include CBRN defense, critical infrastructure safety, and security and environmental sustainability – all using nexus of advanced technological solution platforms. He is a scholar, visionary leader, and dedicated futurist providing strategic leadership to promote and advance research initiatives and priorities using data-driven decisions. He received Ph.D. from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, in 1990, followed by Kobe post-doctoral fellowship. Following his Ph.D., he served as a professor and researcher at Virginia Tech and Marshall University. He also served as the Director of Research at the Institute for Advanced Sciences Convergence and International Clean Water Institute for Norwich University Applied Research Institutes, Vice Provost for Research in South Carolina, Visiting Professor at the 3 Nano-SAE Research Centre, University of Bucharest, Romania, and Visiting Scientist at the Helen and Martin Kimmel Center of Nanoscale Science at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. He served the U.S. Department of State in two rotations, as strategic S&T advisor in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, Office of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism, and U.S. diplomat. His research interests span foresight, nanotechnology, environmental/ecological science, and critical infrastructure safety and security.
About the Host of Risk Roundup
Jayshree Pandya (née Bhatt), Ph.D., currently serves as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Risk Group LLC. Concurrently she also serves as Chief Research Officer, Chief Science Officer, Chief Strategist, and Strategic Research Advisor for several organizations.
She is an award-winning scientist, a scholar, a visionary leader, and a dedicated futurist passionate about protecting the future of humanity. Her passion and dedication to protecting the collective future have taken her on a journey to understand the universe’s language. Her quest for a security algorithm drives her involvement in a wide range of research to understand the core mechanisms by which the cosmos operates and where the existential risks emerge for the human species.
Her expertise at the intersection of science, technology, and security provides strategic leadership to advance multidomain research initiatives applying advanced technological solution platforms. Her passion for solving complex problems using science and technology began during her childhood and continues. While doing her doctorate, she developed a Hydrogen Production system using Halobacterium halobium. She also developed a desalination process and discovered anticancer drugs. The trends continue as she gets actively involved in developing numerous technological solutions to existing and emerging risks. The current initiatives she is working on span from advanced artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, and supply chain protection, and more.
Guided by societal necessities, her research across many domains has contributed to more than 100 publications, including four books. She has presented many keynotes and invited lectures worldwide.
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