Naeem Nadzri, who is working on ways to recover important minerals from desalination, posing for a picture at the Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute in Singapore. — The Straits Times/ANN
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Reading about the apocalyptic floods that ravaged Pakistan in July 2022 made an indelible impact on young water researcher Naeem Nadzri.
The damage cost the nation some US$15.2 billion and killed around 1,700 people.
One particular aftermath of the disaster was the most striking for Mr Naeem – the lack of access to clean water.
“When it comes to a flood, you’d think that there’s water all around, but actually much of their water resources, such as lakes and rivers, are contaminated by debris and sedimentation,” he said.
Infrastructure like roads and pipes that transport water to communities are also damaged, he noted.
In fact, a report by the United Nations’ children agency in August found that some eight million people in Pakistan still did not have access to clean water a year after the floods.
This fuelled the spread of water-borne diseases, plaguing children with malaria, dengue and diarrhoea.
“That got me thinking: With climate change worsening the intensity and frequency of these disasters, what would happen to the long-term water supply in these countries?” said Mr Naeem.
The Pakistan disaster also gave him a mission in life and a PhD focus: The 26-year-old is working for his PhD in water research at the Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute, and hopes to be part of efforts to create sufficient freshwater water resources for all the world’s populations, rich or poor.
“Much more also has to be done in water governance – so that people know how to conserve the precious resource and use it sustainably. Water-intensive sectors like agriculture urgently need to cut their water use,” he said.
He is a part of a team of 20 young people under Singapore’s inaugural Climate Youth Development Programme who will be heading to COP28 in Dubai. The initiative was launched by the Government to help the youth learn about the conference and understand how climate issues are discussed on the world stage.
The United Nations-led talks will be held from Nov 30 to Dec 12.
The COP28 presidency has elevated water on its agenda, with a focus on restoring freshwater ecosystems, enhancing urban water resilience and bolstering water-resilient food systems.
Mr Naeem hopes to be part of the conversations on this issue, and to connect with stakeholders to better understand how water scarcity affects different countries, particularly in developing countries.
The earth’s warming atmosphere holds more moisture, causing intense rainfall on scales never seen before. At the other extreme, high evaporation rates cause dry soil, leading to droughts.
The World Meteorological Organisation’s secretary-general Petteri Tallas noted in October that an overwhelming majority of these climate disasters are water-related.
As the world careens to new climate extremes, Pakistan in 2022 found itself caught in the devastation wrought by floods, and in 2023, the climate carnage descended upon Libya, with Storm Daniel – the deadliest cyclone to hit Africa in history – destroying two dams and causing intense flooding that claimed some 11,300 lives.
“Reading about (these disasters) really shocked me to the core. Many of these countries had barely contributed to climate change, yet they’re facing the brunt of its impact,” said Mr Naeem.
He noted that much of the infrastructure in Pakistan had been around since its colonial era, and has not been adapted to cope with the intensity of extreme weather events.
Increasingly, developed countries are beginning to feel the pinch, with Italy, Spain and Portugal, for instance, being susceptible to seasonal water stresses during the intense heat periods in the summer, he said.
The stark reality that these countries face might be unfamiliar to many in Singapore, given that the Republic relies on a wide range of technologies– from desalination to used water treatment plants – for a large proportion of its water supply.
“But the fact is, such technologies are energy-intensive and costly, and it’s not something that every country can afford,” said Mr Naeem.
The PhD student has been contributing to the water space in his own way – he is working on a project to test the viability of recovering precious metals, such as lithium and magnesium, from desalination brine.
The world’s oceans can contain at least 180 billion tonnes of lithium. In comparison, Bolivia’s salt flats have lithium resources totalling 21 million tonnes. The hyper-saline mixture, a by-product of desalination, therefore contains extracted salts and metal compounds.
Lithium is currently in high demand globally for use in electric vehicles and energy storage solutions as the world ramps up its clean energy push.
“We’re currently trying to find a way to collect and concentrate the lithium compounds from desalination brine using membranes, before ensuring that this can be scaled up across Singapore’s desalination plants,” Mr Naeem said.
The first spark of interest in clean technologies began when Mr Naeem was studying for his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at the Singapore Institute of Technology.
“There was a sustainability module where I learnt about the different water purification technologies available which are cheaper and less carbon-intensive than the ones used commercially. For instance, recent tech innovations have created more efficient filtration membranes,” he said.
“This was also around the time of the Pakistan floods, which were a huge trigger point for me. The more I read about it, the more I knew I had to do something to help,” he added.
“We all have our capacity to contribute in our own ways and our actions have meaning, even if they may seem insignificant. I hope that other youth, who may feel anxious about the state of the climate, can also find their own niche and work towards it.”
