People Behind the Science
855: Working to Purify and Preserve Our World's Water Supply - Dr. David Sedlak
Why It Matters
Clean, reliable water is a growing global challenge as climate change intensifies droughts and sea‑level rise threatens coastal communities. Sedlak’s hybrid engineering‑nature approach offers a scalable, multifunctional solution that simultaneously improves water quality, enhances flood protection, and restores ecosystems, making it highly relevant for policymakers, engineers, and anyone concerned about future water security.
Key Takeaways
- •Developed subsurface wetland levees to treat sewage effluent
- •Levees protect flood zones while removing nutrients and contaminants
- •Reverse osmosis concentrate can be purified using nature‑based wetlands
- •Early research failures taught perseverance and refined measurement techniques
- •Interdisciplinary approach links engineering, ecology, and urban water infrastructure
Pulse Analysis
Dr. David Sedlak, a leading professor at UC Berkeley, dedicates his research to engineering solutions that secure clean, safe water for future generations. By bridging civil and environmental engineering with ecological science, he tackles pressing challenges such as water scarcity, pollutant degradation, and resilient urban infrastructure. His work reflects a broader shift toward sustainable water management, where innovative treatment technologies intersect with climate‑adapted design, making his insights essential for policymakers, engineers, and investors focused on long‑term water security.
One of Sedlak’s flagship projects is the horizontal living levee—a subsurface wetland built alongside flood‑control barriers in the San Francisco Bay. This nature‑based system simultaneously shields communities from storm surges and treats wastewater effluent, using microbial processes to strip nutrients and emerging contaminants. The nutrient‑rich sewage water fuels native plant growth, creating valuable terrestrial habitat while preventing algal blooms in the bay. The pilot, spanning roughly 500 × 50 meters, demonstrates a low‑cost, scalable model that merges flood protection with water purification, offering a blueprint for coastal cities worldwide.
Beyond the Bay, Sedlak explores how these wetlands can remediate reverse‑osmosis concentrate streams generated by water‑recycling facilities. By capturing and biologically degrading salts, nutrients, and trace chemicals, the approach turns a disposal challenge into a resource‑recovery opportunity, with potential applications from Belgium’s coastal plants to emerging desalination hubs. His career, marked by early measurement setbacks and a philosophy that “if it were easy, someone would have done it,” underscores the value of perseverance and interdisciplinary collaboration. As urban water systems evolve, Sedlak’s research provides actionable pathways for integrating engineering, ecology, and policy to build resilient, clean‑water futures.
Episode Description
Dr. David Sedlak is the Plato Malozemoff Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Co-Director of the Berkeley Water Center, Deputy Director of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Reinventing the Nation's Urban Water Infrastructure, and Director of the Institute for Environmental Science and Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. In addition, he is author of the book Water 4.0: The Past, Present, and Future of the World's Most Vital Resource. David is working to create technologies that will allow future generations to have access to adequate amounts of clean, safe water. When David isn't working, he enjoys long-distance running. He often runs along the many trails in the Berkeley area, and he participates in an annual local trails marathon. David earned his Bachelor's degree in environmental science from Cornell University. After college, he worked as a Staff Scientist at Environ Corporation in Princeton, New Jersey. David then attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he was awarded his Ph.D. in water chemistry. Prior to joining the faculty at UC, Berkeley, David conducted postdoctoral research at the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology in Dübendorf, Switzerland. Throughout his career, David has received numerous awards and honors, including a National Science Foundation CAREER Development Award, the Paul L. Busch Award for Innovation in Applied Water Quality Research, a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, a Fulbright Alumni Initiative Award, the U.S. National Academy of Engineering Gilbreth Lecture Award, and the Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize for Excellence in Water Research. He has also been named an Elected Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, as well as a Rydell Distinguished Visiting Professor at Gustavus Adolphus College and the Francqui Foundation Chair, Ghent University. In our interview, David shares more about his life and research.
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