News Reflections on 10 years of J-WAFS research impact
MIT researchers strive to ensure access to clean water and innovations for a food secure world.
By Chandra Madramootoo, Distinguished James McGill Professor, McGill University, and J-WAFS visiting scholar March 12, 2025
I initially came to MIT as a J-WAFS visiting scholar in 2016, while J-WAFS’ first seed grant projects were still underway. Having just stepped down from my role as the Dean of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at McGill University in Montreal, and with my own research background at the intersection of agriculture and water resources, J-WAFS was a great fit for me. With the help of director John Lienhard and executive director Renee Robins, I was introduced to MIT researchers whose work related to my own interests, such as international agriculture development, irrigation, and water quality. Since then, I have had varying degrees of engagement with the J-WAFS and the MIT research community, including the development of some meaningful collaborations. I have observed how, with J-WAFS support, water and food research at MIT has grown—in both scale and impact—over the past decade.
Clean and abundant water supplies are often taken for granted, but challenges loom
Water supplies are being threatened by overuse in water-stressed regions of the world, and also by pollution. At the same time, droughts in the U.S. and around the world are becoming more common, and more severe due to climate change. In arid regions such as the American West, states like California and Arizona regularly implement restrictions due to water scarcity. But even in relatively wet New England, drought and water restrictions are becoming much more common. This past fall, the Northeast Drought Early Warning System (DEWS) reported “abnormal dryness” or drought across almost all (93%) of the U.S. Northeast.
Drought can also have severe impact on agriculture and other industries. Crop yields are reduced by drought stress and livestock suffer from lack of water and high temperatures. As some climates become drier, they have less reliable water supplies for human need, including irrigation systems to help grow food.
Drinking water quality also remains a significant challenge. In some countries where water treatment infrastructure is rudimentary, basic filtration and disinfection technologies may not be affordable or are deteriorating. Outbreaks of waterborne disease can severely impact community health, and boil-water advisories may be a regular challenge for households.
In more advanced societies, for many decades public utilities have treated drinking water in a series of processes involving technologies such as sand filtration and disinfection. However, there is increasing awareness of emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and PFAS—chemicals broadly used in manufacturing and other applications such as firefighting foams that have become ubiquitous in the environment, including water sources. Human activities such as fracking, semiconductor manufacturing, mining, and agriculture are increasingly contaminating freshwater supplies. Innovative technologies such as advanced filters and ion exchange are needed to remove a wide range of emerging harmful contaminants from water.
J-WAFS promotes MIT efforts to make an impact on water supply and water quality
This need for new water treatment technologies is rapidly growing. Technologies developed even a few years ago, are no longer adequate. At MIT, J-WAFS has been supporting cutting-edge MIT research and technology development to remove these varied problematic contaminants from municipal water supply, and from industrial wastewaters before they enter the environment. Experts from across MIT are applying knowledge and methodologies from wide ranging disciplines to develop innovative approaches to water purification. In one lab, researchers are using the natural filtration capability of the xylem of trees, such as sapwood, to filter out bacteria and pathogens, like E. coli and rotavirus, from contaminated drinking water in developing countries. This simple, low-cost technology could be easily deployed in many developing regions that lack access to clean drinking water. Another project is combatting salinity in groundwater using a low-cost, sustainable, renewable-powered desalination technology that is able to provide safe drinking water for remote communities. The application of solar-powered desalination systems not only eliminates dependence of the electric power grid but has enormous potential for reducing salinity in irrigated agriculture and providing clean water to resource-poor communities.
Other researchers with expertise in advanced materials are developing technologies that can harvest water from air to improve water supply in arid regions and countries affected by water scarcity. To scale up the water harvesting technique, they are incorporating smart porous hydrogels in the water harvesting device to produce water faster, thus making it a more cost-effective and energy-efficient water production technology.
Another strength within MIT is the development of low-cost sensor technologies. J-WAFS has supported several water and food sensor research efforts. One project aims to develop 2D conductive metal-organic frameworks (2D c-MOFs) to detect pollutants in water. The goal is to engineer PFAS test kits that can be deployed for low-income households. To address the widespread problem of natural arsenic contamination of groundwater, researchers are working on new techniques that are rapid, cost-effective, portable, and reliable for on-site arsenic detection in water samples. This technology would make a significant impact in the global effort to combat arsenic contamination and poisoning, a long-standing challenge that can affect communities in developing and developed countries.
Application of MOFs and membrane research are also being applied to water purification, as MIT researchers develop a better understanding of how MOF chemistry and pore geometry affect water transport and ion rejection rates. They propose to develop novel MOFs tailored to specific ion separations from water that will become next-generation membranes to supply clean water.
Given the breadth of expertise that exists in the different departments and schools at MIT, it must be noted that not all J-WAFS project are technology focused. Economics and management, for example, are at the core of some research efforts. One project that stands out in this regard is a study on water markets, in which the team aimed to measure the overall potential economic benefits from strengthening water markets, and to identify and quantify the most important barriers to greater use of water markets in the water-challenged state of California. The results of this study could improve efficiency of water allocation, reduce conflicts over resources, help adapt to climate variability, and build a more resilient economy. In another project, social scientists worked with utilities to redesign policies that threaten families in low-income communities with water shutoffs.
Many of the water projects that J-WAFS funds address the need for low-cost solutions for providing clean water to remote communities and more equitable access to the resource. These solutions are game changers when one thinks of how to address both the water quantity and quality challenges of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: Clean water and sanitation. J-WAFS can rightfully claim to have made a laudable impact in addressing SDG 6.
J-WAFS supports research for a safer and more secure food supply
The global population has doubled in less than 25 years, resulting in a population now over 8 billion that needs to be fed in a world that has finite land and water resources. Challenges facing food production and agriculture have never been more pressing, with climate change emerging as a major threat to global food security. As greenhouse gas concentrations rise, global mean surface temperature is predicted to have risen by 1.45 ± 0.10 °C above pre-industrial levels in 2025. Many parts of the world will experience hotter and drier climates, thereby affecting national and regional food security, particularly in arid and semi-arid zones. Food security, environmental sustainability, and agricultural productivity are critical issues that demand innovation and actionable solutions. J-WAFS is the leading program behind MIT’s efforts to address these challenges, supporting pioneering research that promises to reshape the future of food and agriculture across the globe.
Climate change adaptation, crop and soil biotechnology, and sensors that detect foodborne pathogens are some of the themes that J-WAFS researchers are undertaking to ensure the availability and safety of our food supply. Across MIT, faculty, research scientists, and students are advancing novel ways to protect soil and water quality in agricultural production systems. For instance, inorganic fertilizers made by energy-intensive processes are a major input needed for high-yield agriculture. The crop uses only a fraction of the fertilizer, with the remainder being leached through the soil, contaminating groundwater as well as being lost through surface runoff to freshwater bodies. One new J-WAFS project uses biotechnology to reduce fertilizer inputs by engineering natural plant and soil microbes to provide nutrients for crop growth. By coating plant roots with a consortium of microbes, microbial nitrogen can be delivered directly to cereal crops.
Phosphorus applied as a fertilizer also accumulates in soil and leads to pollution in the environment. In another plant-soil biotechnology project, a research team is investigating the conditions that enable soil bacteria and plant metabolites to work together to solubilize mineral-adsorbed phosphorus and make it more available to the plant, rather than contaminate soil and water resources with applied phosphorus. Other MIT plant biologists are pursuing research to increase the productivity of crops in the face of rising temperatures and drier climates.
MIT researchers are also applying economics and other social science methodologies to address the effects of climate change on food production, particularly in regions that are most affected by climatic shocks and food insecurity. A multidisciplinary team of J-WAFS-funded researchers is building an integrated modelling framework for Africa, to assess food-energy-water-land interactions as well as the biophysical and the economic impacts of climate change. The team aims to provide guidance to African policymakers for sustainable development pathways to food security and green energy under alternative global change scenarios. This project builds on MIT’s longtime strength in climate change modelling. For example, the MIT Regional Climate Model (MRCM) was developed and applied before the creation of J-WAFS. In another J-WAFS-funded project, the model is combined with observations on climate variables, such as rainfall and temperature, and yield of key food crops, to investigate the risk to water availability and rain-fed agriculture in the southern fringes of the Sahara Desert from projected climate change. The ultimate goal is to enable sound planning of climate change adaptation with regard to water availability and food production in this region of Africa.
Other researchers focus on smallholder farmers. These farmers grow one-third of the world’s food, yet they face many market and supply chain challenges. MIT researchers are investigating how to provide better access for these farmers to markets and global supply chains, and have engineered better ways to preserve harvests so they don’t rot in the field.
As previously mentioned, MIT has considerable strengths in sensor technology. A J-WAFS study aims to develop a tool to quickly and accurately assess whether or not a given food product is contaminated with pathogens. An RFID tag on a food product’s container turns into a spectroscope that can identify the presence of contaminants—pathogens as well as adulterants that affect the nutritional quality of the food product. In another very innovative sensor project, researchers focused on novel printing technologies and protein-specific colorimetric inks, to develop sensors that result in a color change that is visible to the naked eye when interacting with pathogens that may be present in food. Direct printing enables multiple inks sensitive to different pathogens to be printed in a single pattern in order to improve accuracy and sensitivity.
J-WAFS researchers are also collaborating with external partners on the Jameel Index for Food Trade and Vulnerability to assess how food trade affects food security in different countries, and how climate change threats can affect global food trade. This research has attracted the attention of national-level policy makers in a number of countries.
Looking forward
Just over a decade ago, J-WAFS was merely an idea—an ambitious vision for a hub at MIT dedicated to addressing global water and food-supply challenges. In what feels like a relatively short time, J-WAFS has firmly established itself within the MIT ecosystem as that vital hub for research. Leveraging MIT’s strengths in areas such as advanced materials, separation processes, and genetic engineering, J-WAFS has funded a growing research portfolio. It has also advanced the application of cutting-edge tools like AI, machine learning, data mining and analysis, and computer vision to tackle complex systems problems such as climate impacts on water and food security. I’m excited to see these innovative research approaches expand, particularly as we integrate markets, supply chains, and economics to build solutions that enhance the economic and environmental resilience of our food production systems—from smallholder farmers to large-scale high-yield agriculture.
By fostering new collaborations and encouraging researchers to take risks in developing groundbreaking ideas and innovative research initiatives, J-WAFS has greatly expanded opportunities for those of us working on water and food challenges. As one of those researchers, I am personal grateful for my ongoing engagement with J-WAFS, and for the leadership it provides. Looking ahead, I am hopeful that with J-WAFS’ continued efforts and support, MIT will remain at the forefront of transformative solutions, ensuring that we can provide safe, accessible, and affordable water and food to our global human population over the coming decade and beyond.
