News & Topics

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2024/03/21
[Award] Selected as Top Downloaded Article (Prof. Kato)

A review paper "Advanced Functional Liquid Crystals" by Prof. Takashi Kato (Duputy Director/Water Quality Control Technologies and Materials Development Division) et al. has been selected as Top Downloaded Article in Advanced Materials in 2022.
Prof. Kato was invited as Advanced Materials Hall of Fame and published this review paper. It was selected for Inside Front Cover. Also the paper received the 2023 Best Paper Award (Category C) from the Japanese Liquid Crystal Society.

2024/03/14
[Activity] Chair of Water Supply & Sewerage Earthquake Countermeasures Review Committee (Prof. Takizawa)

Please accept our deepest sympathies for the damage, loss, and suffering caused by the earthquake in Noto Peninsula.

In response to the severe damage to water and sewage facilities caused by this earthquake, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Water Supply Division and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Sewerage Division, established the Water Supply and Sewerage Earthquake Countermeasures Review Committee on March 12th. Director, Prof. Satoshi Takizawa was appointed as the chair.

Main news coverage: 日本水道新聞, NHK NEWS, 朝日新聞, 日本下水道新聞, 電気新聞デジタル
2024/03/01
"International Wastewater-based Epidemiology" Program launched (Prof. Katayama & Kitajima) The "International Wastewater-based Epidemiology" Corporate Sponsored Research Program has been launched at RECWET. See the member details.
2024/02/23
[Publication] Recent papers by Prof. Takashi Kato ● An invited perspective paper on aquatic functional liquid crystals. It was selected as Cover Picture of the Special Issue for the 10th Anniversary of "Advanced Science" (Kato et al.)
● A paper on water molecules confirmed in liquid crystalline nanopores. This work is the result of joint research on Innovative Area "Aquatic Functional Materials" (Hamaguchi, Kato et al.)
2024/02/21
Report on the future of RECWET The establishment of RECWET's 5th term (FY 2024-2028) was officially approved (Jan 18th). We plan to carry on the activities that were expanded to a three-division system in the 4th term and further develop them. We appreciate your continued support and guidance for RECWET.
Additionally, it was approved to reappoint Prof. Kazuaki Syutsubo (National Institute for Environmental Studies), who has supported the activities of the International Water Environment Division since 2021 (Feb 1).
FY 2023's second steering committee meeting is scheduled for Mar 13th. In addition to reporting on this year's activities, we plan to receive opinions on future activity policies.
2024/02/21
Activity reports from RECWET project researchersDr. Tippawan SINGHOPON is editing the paper on the detection and removal efficiency of human enteric viruses from a wastewater treatment plant.
Dr. Yuta Shinfuku conducted a year-round survey using targeted screening on 114 river water samples collected in Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Gifu, and is writing a paper on the results.
Dr. Cecilia BURZIO's latest research has focused on applying fluorescence spectroscopy, coupled with PARAFAC modeling, to characterize the fluorescent signatures of dissolved organic matter in river water samples collected from Saitama prefecture.
2024/02/21
[Event] Special Seminar Series #55 (Dr.Sara Beck/Lecture) Dr. Sara Beck (University of British Columbia) gave a special lecture. She is well known in the research field of water treatment using ultraviolet light and has published many famous papers including the one cited by Japan Water Research Center’s Ultraviolet Device Technology Examination Standards.
Many people, including experts and engineers from outside the university, participated.
2024/02/09
[Publiation] Joint research result on COVID-19 technolgoies (Profs. Katayama & Kato) A paper on surface modification of cotton gauze for virus adsorption and elution has been published and selected as Cover in ACS ES&T Water (Liu, Kato, Katayama et al.). This work is the result of collaboration between Profs. Hiroyuki Katayama and Takashi Kato (Water Quality Control Technologies and Materials Development Division) on JST CREST "Creative Development for Detection and Removal of Viruses in Environment Using New Materials".
2024/02/09
[Publiation] Recent activities of Prof. Satosi Takizawa ● Published 3 papers based on joint research with Prof. Yu Yang of Beijing Normal University (Chen et al., Gao et al., Liu et al.)
● Contributed the article "Expectations and challenges for water PPP" to the front page of Jiji Daily News (Jan 1st and 8th combined issue)
● Lectured at the 2023 Japan Ductile Iron Pipe Association's Online Seminar
2024/02/06
[Event] Special Seminar Series #54 (Dr.Iftita Rahmatika/Lecture) Dr. Iftita Rahmatika (Lecturer, Universitas Indonesia), who focuses on monitoring antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in developing countries, gave a special lecture. She has won many presentation awards (MEWE2019, WET2019, 2020, 2021) and paper awards.
Although it snowed the day before, we were able to hold the event without any problems.
2024/01/31
Establishment of a Corporate Sponsored Research Program & Recruitment of a project researcher In March 2024, the "International Sewerage Epidemiology" Corporate Sponsored Research Program will be established at RECWET. This Program promotes development of technologies for the social implementation of wastewater-based epidemiological surveys, and for risk management of pathogenic microorganisms in water, and conducts research on demonstration surveys in Japan and oversea.
RECWET is recruiting a Project Researcher for the Program. Click the details and application (JREC-IN Portal) or a PDF.
2024/01/26
[Publiation] Recent papers by Prof. Hiroyuki Katayama ● A Short Communication on a genetic-level comparison of SARS-CoV-2 between COVID-19 patients and SARS-CoV-2 positive wastewater samples at long-term care facilities (Kadoya, Katayama et al.)
● A paper to eavluate how viruses escaping during removal processes could be quantified
(Yasui & Katayama)
2024/01/15
[Lecture] Invited lecture at Sewerage Innovation Seminar (Assoc. Prof. Hashimoto) The 7th Sewerage Innovation Seminar@Hongo was held with the theme of "Innovating water and sewage systems using DX". There, Assoc. Prof. Takashi Hashimoto (Water Quality Control Technologies and Materials Development Division) gave a lecture titled "Digitalization towards a bright future in the water sector: Issues and possibilities considered by young people in industry, government, and academia" (in Japanese).
2024/01/15
[Publiation] Paper by a 3rd JICA graduate (Prof. Takizawa et al.) Mr. Pathirane, Assoc. Prof. Shinobu Kazama, and Prof. Satoshi Takizawa (JICA Water Engineering and Utility Management for Future Leaders) analysed and issued a paper on the influence of water consumption fluctuation on non-revenue water in Sri Lanka.
This course led all 1st to 3rd term international students to publish papers
2024/01/12
[Event] Special Seminar Series #53 (Dr. Phanwatt Phungsai/Lecture) Assoc. Prof. Phanwatt Phungsai of Khon Kaen University, Thailand, who conducts research on dissolved organic matters in water treatment process, disinfection by-product, and new water treatment materials, gave a special lecture. There were so many questions and answers that we ran out of time.
2024/01/08
Workshop in Thailand to report on the international joint research results Prof. Kazuaki Syutsubo (RECWET/NIES) and the joint research institutes held an international workshop on DHC technology and sanitation at Kasetsart University in Thailand on January 8th. There, the results to date were presented. We also discussed future technology implementation and wastewater standards with Thai government agencies. Details
2023/12/21
A review of RECWET's establishment priod review This year is the final year of the 4th term, which is 5 year period starting in FY2019. For this reason, a committee was set up to review renewing RECWET's establishment period. (chair: Hiroaki Tanaka, Professor Emeritus of Kyoto University/Specially Appointed Professor of Shinshu University)
At the committee meeting held on November 22nd, the committee members discussed whether it was appropriate to renew the establishment period based on the current term's activities and the next plan. Afterwards, a report to the dean of the School of Engineering and discussion at university meetings are scheduled.
2023/12/20
Activity reports from RECWET project researchersDr. Tippawan SINGHOPON is currently working as the lead author on a paper that focuses on the detection and removal efficiency of human enteric viruses from a wastewater treatment plant in Japan.
Dr. Yuta Shinfuku is conducting a year-round survey using high-resolution LC/MS target screening on 144 river water samples collected in Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Gifu.
Dr. Cecilia BURZIO’s research project focuses on integrating machine learning techniques with fluorescence spectroscopy for anomaly detection of water quality in water environment. Together with Dr. Hashimoto, she visited Shinshu University to meet with Prof. Komatsu and gain insights through a demonstration of fluorescence spectroscopy applications in water samples.
2023/12/20
[Event] Major conferences that members are involved8th ISFEV Conference (June 2024@Tokyo)
 Prof. Katayama: Chair / Call for abstracts
2024 IWA Micropol and Ecohazard Conference (June 2024@Taipei)
 Prof. Kurisu: Organizing Committee / Registration has started
IWA SWSM 2023 (Dec 13-16@Bangkok)
 Prof. Takizawa: Programme Committee, Keynote
■ Grand Meeting MRM2023/IUMRS-ICA2023 (Dec 11-16@Kyoto)
 Prof. Kato: Executive committee / A large-scale conference that merged MRM, Japan's first cross-disciplinary international conference on advanced materials research, and the historic Asian Conference (ICA) organized by the International Union of Materials Research Societies (IUMRS)
IWA NOM8 (Dec 3-6@South Africa)
 Prof. Takizawa: Chair of the Scientific Programme Committee / first time in 4 years.
The 60th Environmental Engineering Research(PDF) (Nov 29-Dec 1@Yamaguchi)
 Assoc. Prof. Hashimoto: Committee member and Secretary, Secretary General of the public symposium held in the conference.
International Conference on Asian and Pacific Coasts [APAC2023] (Nov 14-17@Kyoto)
 Prof. Tajima: Proceedings Editor etc / Proceedings preorder
2023/12/15
[Publication] Recent papers by Prof. Hiroyuki Katayama ● Development of a simple and low-cost method using Moringa seeds for efficient virus concentration in wastewater (Canh, Katayama et al.)
● Activity- and gene-based quantification of enteric viruses, F- specific RNA phage genogroups, pepper mild mottle virus, and Escherichia coli in surface water (Hata, Torii, Katayama et al.)
2023/12/15
[Lecture] Keynote lecture at IWA, SWSM 2023 (Prof. Takizawa) Prof. Satoshi Takizawa, RECWET Director, gave a keynote lecture on the fluorine problems in groundwater at IWA Sustainable natural and engineered water systems management SWSM 2023 (13-16 Dec, Bangkok).
Title: Fluoride adsorption on natural organic materials – influence of molecular structure and hydrogen bonding
2023/12/04
[Publication] Recent papers by Prof. Futoshi Kurisu ● A paper on nontuberculous mycobacteria affected by water stagnation in building plumbing (Rahmatika, Shimazaki, Kurisu, Furumai and Kasuga)
● A paper on growth activity of complete ammonia oxidizers in drinking water treatment (Ishizaki, Kurisu, Furumai and Kasuga)
2023/12/02
[Event] 8th ISFEV Conference (Prof. Katayama) International Society for Food and Environmental Virology will hold "8th ISFEV Conference" and its website was lauched. It will be held from June 9th to 14th, 2024. Prof. Katayama (Water Quality Control Technologies and Materials Development Division) invited this event to Tokyo, and will serve as the chair.
2023/12/01
[Conference] The 60th JSCE Environmental Engineering Research Forum (Profs. Takizawa and Katayama)

Presentations involving RECWET members at the 60th JSCE Environmental Engineering Research Forum (Nov 29 - Dec 1, Yamaguchi)

●Peer-reviewed paper
- 度会真実・滝沢智・風間しのぶ
「人口減少社会における革新的下水処理技術の評価と普及の可能性」

●Presentation
- 新井結・風間しのぶ・小熊久美子・滝沢智
「ヒト腸管系ウイルスの検出を目的とした選択的メタゲノム解析手法の改善」

●Environmental technology/project
- Yan Tung LO, Shinobu KAZAMA, and Satoshi TAKIZAWA
「Assessment of Nanocomposite Membranes in Water Reclamation and Reuse」
- Benyapa SAWANGJANG and Satoshi TAKIZAWA
「Fluoride Removal from Groundwater by Adsorption on Rice Starch」
- Vu Duc CANH and Hiroyuki KATAYAMA
「Moringa Seed as a Low-Cost Solution for Efficient Virus Concentration in Wastewater」

2023/11/28
[Publication] 2022 M&E Paper Award Nomination (Prof. Kurisu) The paper by Rahmatika, Kurisu, Furumai and Kasuga did not win the Most Valuable Paper of The Year 2022 in Microbes and Environments. However, the selection committee highly praised it: "This is an important paper that suggests the risk of microbial growth due to stagnation of tap water used on a daily basis, and leads to appropriate guidelines for cleaning water pipes and other measures to ensure the safe use of tap water". (translated from Japanese)
2023/11/01
[Activity] Request for social implementation of Sewage Surveillance (Prof. Katayama) The National Sewage Surveillance Promotion Council, chaired by Prof. Hiroyuki Katayama (Water Quality Control Technologies and Materials Division), met with five members of the Diet and submitted a proposal for social implementation.
This news was reported in several newspapers (建設通信新聞, 水道産業新聞, 日本下水道新聞, 環境新聞) and also posted on Representative Sasaki and Representative Shiota's X (former Twitter).
2023/10/30
[Update] New web page on research exchange activities with Wenzhou University A new web page has been created which summarizes research exchange activities with College of Life and Environmental Science, Wenzhou University, China in reverse chronological order. College of Life and Environmental Science and RECWET signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2020.
2023/10/25
[Lecture] Invited lecture at IWA-ASPIRE Conference & Exhibition (Prof. Kurisu) Prof. Futoshi Kurisu (Water System Management Division) gave an invited lecture at 9th IWA-ASPIRE Conference & Exhibition 2023 (Oct 22-26, Kaohsiung, Taiwan). The conference expects 2,000 participants all over the world.
2023/10/23
[Conference] Oral presentation by Dr. Tippawan RECWET Project Researcher Dr. Tippawan SINGHOPON gave an oral presentation at 9th IWA-ASPIRE Conference & Exhibition 2023 (Oct 22-26, Kaohsiung, Taiwan).
Also, there are presentations by postgraduate students (RECWET supervisors: Profs. Takizawa, Katayama & Hashimoto, Kurisu).
2023/10/13
[Event] FY2023 1st RECWET Steering Committee The RECWET Steering Committee meeting was held. Starting this year, Tetsuya Ishida, vice dean of School of Engineering, has been appointed as a committee member, replacing former vice dean and current dean Yasuhiro Kato. In the final year of the 4th term (FY2019-2023), we sought opinions on the policy for renewing RECWET's establishment period. Additionally, this year's activities and budget execution were deliberated.
2023/10/10
RECWET Annual report has been issued The report which summarizes the activities and research results for FY2021-2022 has been issued.
- PDF First half(3.9MB) Second half(3.8MB) (Japanese only)
- Past reports (Mostly Japanese)
2023/10/02
[HR] Arrival of a post-doctoral researcher (Dr. Cecilia Burzio) Dr. Cecilia BURZIO has been appointed as a RECWET Project Researcher as of October 1, 2023.
Research topic: Development of water quality accident detection and countermeasure methods through continuous monitoring and comprehensive analysis and optimization of watershed monitoring
2023/09/28
[Publications] Recent papers by Prof. Kazuaki Syutsubo ● A paper on the correlations between the abundance of representative pathogenic bacteria in domestic wastewater and water quality, and on the removal properties at wastewater treatment facilities (Aoki, Syutsubo et al.)
● A paper on analysis methods using internal standard to evaluate functional and phylogenetic marker genes (Koike, Syutsubo, Matsuura et al.)
2023/09/14
[Conference] Poster presentations by Dr. Shinfuku Project Researcher Dr. Yuta Shinfuku gave poster presentations at IWA MEWE23 conference (Sep 10-14, Brisbane) and 2023 Annual Meeting of Society of Environmental Science, Japan (Sep 7, Kobe University).
2023/09/01
[Publication] Recent papers by Prof. Hiroyuki Katayama ● A paper on enveloped and non-enveloped viruses to ultraviolet light-emitting diode irradiation (Canh, Katayama et al.)
● A paper on inactivation of virus under conditions relevant to drinking water treatment (Canh, Tippawan, Katayama et al.)
2023/08/31
[Personnel] End of acceptance of the visiting researchers (Profs. Takizawa & Hashimoto, Kurisu) The six-month research acceptance of two visiting researchers has ended. RECWET conducted joint research on filtration membrane technology with Assoc. Prof. Alberto Tiraferri, Politecnico di Torino (Host Profs. Satoshi Takizawa and Takashi Hashimoto). Also we condected research exchanges on basin water system/water environment with Prof. Chia-Ling Chang, Feng Chia University, Taiwan (Host Prof. Futoshi Kurisu).
2023/08/30
[Activity] Sewage Surveillance aiming for nationwide expansion (Prof. Katayama) On August 25, Sapporo City, Komatsu City, Yabu City and researchers, which are investigating the new coronavirus in sewage, established the National Sewage Surveillance Promotion Council, with Prof. Hiroyuki Katayama (Water Quality Control Technologies and Materials Development Division) appointed as its Chair. This news was reported with movies/photos on NHK Hokkaido and some newspapers.
2023/08/25
[Event] Co-chair of the Forum on Urban Water Service in Asia (Prof. Takizawa) Prof. Satoshi Takizawa (International Water Environment Division) co-chaired "The 5th Executive Forum for Enhancing Sustainability of Urban Water Service in Asian Region" with H.E. Ek Sonn Chan, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister of Kingdom of Cambodia. Sponsored by JICA and City of Yokohama, the event was held at the Yokohama Symposia from August 22nd to 25th, with participants including executives from water utilities and water administration organizations from 10 Asian countries.
2023/08/24
[Publicati on] Joint research result of Two major project Profs. Kato & Katayama) A paper on 2D nanoporous membranes formed from ionic smectic LC molecules for water treatment was published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A. This work is the results of joint research between KAKEN Aquatic Functional Materials (Area Organizer: Prof. Takashi Kato) and a research project of JST-CREST Fundamental technologies for COVID-19 (Research Director: Prof. Hiroyuki Katayama).
2023/08/23
Committee at international conferences held in Dec 2023 (Profs. Takizawa, Kurisu)

Prof. Satoshi Takizawa:Program Committee (Bangkok, Dec 2023)
IWA Sustainable Natural and Engineered Water Systems Management (SWSM 2023)

Prof. Futoshi Kurisu:Technical Committee (IIT Bhubaneswar India, Dec 2023)
International Conference on Pollution Control for Clean Environmen (ICPCCE-2023)

2023/08/09
[Event] Membrane filtration technology symposium (RECWET) RECWET held a hybrid symposium "Cutting-edge membrane filtration technology and its contribution to solving global water problems" on Aug 9 and posted the report.
2023/08/03
[Event] Chair of Annual Technical Conference on Sewerage (Prof. Takizawa) Prof. Satoshi Takizawa was in charge of holding the 60th Japan Annual Technical Conference on Sewerage (Aug 1-3, Sapporo) as the Chair of the Planning and Steering Committee. He also acted as the coordinator for a panel discussion (Aug 1).
2023/07/31
[Award] Best Paper Award (Category C) from JLCS (Prof. Kato) Prof. Takashi Kato et al. received the 2023 Best Paper Award (Category C) from the Japanese Liquid Crystal Society for their review article "Advanced Functional Liquid Crystals". He was invited as Advanced Materials Hall of Fame by Advanced Matrials (Wiley-VCH) and the paper was also selected for Inside Front Cover.
2023/07/25
[SEAWE-13] Deadline Extended: Call for Papers for a Special Issue in Water

The SEAWE-13 organizers has launched a Special Issue "Sustainable Water Supply, Sanitation and Wastewater Systems" in Water* in collaboration with the symposium. Symposium Co-Chairs Prof. Satoshi Takizawa (RECWET Director) and Prof. Thammarat Koottatep (AIT, Thailand), and Prof. Kazuaki Syutsubo (NIES) will serve as Guest Editors and welcome submissions of full papers as follows;

- Both participants and non-participants of the SEAWE-13 symposium can submit papers.
- Submission deadline is June 30, 2023. extended to Dec 15, 2023.
- Inquiries: takizawa [at] env.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp (Prof. Satoshi Takizawa)

* Water is a peer-reviewed open-access online journal, and papers accepted after peer-review are published online in about a week.

2023/07/20
[Publication] A paper by the JICA program members (Prof.Takizawa et al.) A paper by graduate student Mitria Widianingtias, Dr. Shinobu Kazama, Dr. Benyapa Sawangjang and Prof. Satoshi Takizawa (JICA Water Engineering and Utility Management for Future Leaders) has been published. It belongs to the Special Issue in collaboration with SEAWE-13.
2023/07/13
[Event] Special Seminar Series #52 (Prof. Faisal Hai/Lecture) Prof. Faisal Hai of University of Wollongong, Australia gave a special lecture on 13 July. It was held jointly with Environmental Science Center and many people participated.
2023/07/11
[Event] Special Seminar Series #51 (Dr. Manuel Herrera/Lecture) Senior Research Associate, Dr. Manuel Herrera of University of Cambridge gave a special lecture and answered many questions. Using data analysis and network science, he conducts research not only in water systems, but also in infrastructure systems such as energy, telecommunications, and transport.
2023/07/10
[Media] An interview as a next-generation environmental engineer (Dr. Hashimoto) A 10-page interview article with Assoc. Prof. Takashi Hashimoto (Water Quality Control Technologies and Materials Development Division) was published in the series "Next-Generation Hygiene and Environmental Engineers" in Monthly Core No. 404. The Core is a comprehensive magazine on plumbing, sanitation, and environmental facilities.
2023/07/02
[Lecture] Invited lecture at Western Sydney University (Prof. Katayama) Prof. Hiroyuki Katayama (Water Quality Control Technologies and Materials Development Division) gave an invited lecture titled "Molecular Detection of Viruses for Water Safety" at Western Sydney University.
2023/06/29
[Publication] Article on wastewater treatment by HD (Dr. Tippawan) RECWET Project Researcher Dr. Tippawan Singhopon et al. have published an article in Sustainability.
Title: "Application of Hydrogen-Based Denitrification: Simultaneous Removal of Nitrate and Reactive Black 5 Dye from Textile Wastewater Containing Organic Matter"

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