The Department of Physical Sciences hosts an International Webinar on Nature-based solutions for fluoride and arsenic in gold mine waters

On 11^th March 2026, the Department of Physical Sciences, Machakos University hosted a webinar themed: ‘The Golden Standard for clean water’. The webinar brought together experts to discuss innovative, nature-based remediation solutions that combine sustainability with effectiveness specifically for gold mine wastewater treatment. Mr. Micah Obondi Deputy Government Chemist at the State Department for Mining, delivered an insightful keynote address on phytoremediation as a sustainable approach for restoring gold mine waters.

We were also proud to see three MSc. Chemistry students (Deffler Chepng’eno, Kevin Maena and Kevin Nzioki) supported by the UNESCO–TWAS Research Grant present as technical speakers. They confidently presented their research on the application of nature-based sorbents modified with nano zero valent iron and metal organic frameworks (MOFs) modification for gold mine remediation, demonstrating the critical role of young scientists in advancing innovative and sustainable environmental solutions.

Our sincere appreciation goes to consortium for sustainable development in Africa, CoSuDAf (https://cosudaf.mksu.ac.ke/) for the opportunity to host this international webinar, which fostered valuable knowledge exchange and collaboration. The session was moderated by Dr. Elizabeth Ndunda, Chairperson of the Department and Dr. Veronica Okello, Senior Lecturer as well as research and programme coordinator for CoSuDAf (the two are also the supervisors for the 3 MSc. students), highlighting the important role of partnerships in advancing basic sciences for sustainable environmental solutions.