| Pawan Labhasetwar worked as a Chief Scientist and Head, of Water Technology and Management Division (WTMD) at National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, India. NEERI is a premier R&D institute in the domain of Environmental Science and Technology under Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. WTMD, CSIR-NEERI is the only WHO Collaborating Centre for Water and Sanitation in India and I headed the Collaborating Centre.
Dr Pawan was associated with about 250 R&D and consultancy projects having a total contract value of about INR 1 billion, most of which he either led or coordinated. After joining NEERI in 1989, he undertook several Environmental Impact and Risk Assessment (EIRA) studies and switched to Water Treatment and Management in 2009. He focuses on field implementation and diffusion of technologies, and his efforts led to the transfer of Electrolytic Defluridation (EDF) technology to several Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises. Similarly, chemo-defluoridation, hand-pump attached iron removal unit, and NEERI-ZAR developed in WTMD are implemented in the field. He along with a colleague received the prestigious DST-Lockheed Martin Innovation Growth and Project Innovation Award (Development) of IWA awards for EDF. Dr Pawan also worked as a Water and Sanitation Officer at UNICEF, Bhopal, India, from October 2005 to December 2007. He implemented laboratory-based interventions, e.g. greywater treatment and reuse, wisewater management, and integrated fluorosis mitigation (IFM) in the field and integrated with state and national programs.
Dr Pawan was a Member of the Editorial and Technical Committees constituted by Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization (CPHEEO), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for updating the Water Supply and Treatment Manual. He is also an expert member in the committees constituted by Atal Innovation Mission, NITI AAYOG, CPHEEO, Jal Jeevan Mission, Technical Development Board, Department of Science and Technology and State Government agencies. He is one of three Editors-in-Chief of the Water Supply Journal of IWAP and the only Indian to receive the honour. He was a member of the Independent Advisory Committee of WHO, Geneva on Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage and several other core groups from WHO, UNICEF, and IWA related to water quality. He was a Member of the Guideline Development Group of the amended Fourth Edition of the "Guideline for Drinking Water Quality" of WHO. He chairs the Committee of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on "Point-of-use water purification system. He received the Jal Nirmalata Award of IWWA for 2016-17 (the most prestigious award of IWWA for exemplary work on water quality improvement). |
