CAIRO: Effat Ali Morsi, an Egyptian researcher at the National Research Center in Cairo, was recently listed in the international "Who's Who. The international organization aims at recognizing successful individuals in various areas of expertise by listing them among their peers and providing an international forum for networking, reference, and self- promotion. This expands the success of those listed, said Hany El Nazer, director of the center. El Nazer said that Morsi, who's a researcher at the water pollution research department, has been listed for her two distinguished studies, which were published in two international science magazines, the International Journal of Environmental Studies in England in 2005, and the Water, Air, Soil Pollution Journal in the Netherlands in 2007. Submitted as part of her MA thesis, the two research papers focus on the use of low cost technology to treat the sewage water of residential areas. Morsi, 27, the youngest of several candidates that were nominated for that listing, has studied the possibility of treating sewage water through a three-unit system that resulted in ridding the water of a parasite known as Cryptosporidium. The study also revealed the preponderance of that parasite in water and that its activity tends to peak during the summer and gradually calm down during the other seasons until it reaches a nadir in winter. "There are several levels at which the purification of sewage water is usually carried out, Morsi told The Daily Star Egypt. "The first level is aimed at obtaining a kind of purification that is designed for watering trees and other decorative green items. The second is intended to grow vegetables and fruits with thick-peels. The third, which is the most challenging, is to produce water for use in planting peel-less items or others with a fragile peel. Morsi said that in Egypt these methods are being tested in El Gabal El Akhdar area. "My specialty is parasitological, but this has to be done along with chemical, bacteriological and viral treatments. But the reason I had to take up this specialty is that our sewage water had to be assessed from a parasitological perspective, said Morsi "Our method depends on sand basins which are also provided with some types of plants. The water passes through the basins to be filtered by the sand, the researcher added. Morsi is all set for her Ph.D thesis which will focus on the best ways to detect parasites in sewage water and the standards set for assessing the quality of the water for agricultural use.
