Chotiwat Jantarakasem
News Type
Meeting the needs caused by global water stress
Jantarakasem is well acquainted with water supply problems. Originally from rural Thailand, he grew up with unreliable water quality. “Our family had tap water, but we did not have very well-maintained distribution systems. People in my village could spend up to a month’s salary each year to secure water that meets international quality standards,” he says.
Jantarakasem was brought on board by Prof. Amos Winter, director of the Yang GEAR Center and the Germeshausen Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, to explicitly focus on building solutions that address water stress. Winter was eager to find a project lead who has top engineering skills and understands how to interact with people. “That’s why I’m here,” says Jantarakasem, who recently earned a PhD in civil and environmental engineering at Imperial College London.
In his role in the Yang GEAR Center, Jantarakasem is traveling the world, engaging with stakeholders in the underserved communities he’s hoping to help. He asks them about their challenges in locating sustainable sources of clean water. He says, “I get a chance to talk to people, understand their pain, how they interact with each other, and then bring those challenges back to the lab so we can deliver a high-quality, but still inexpensive, solution.”
Since joining MIT in early 2025, Jantarakasem has visited Thailand and Egypt and interviewed stakeholders and experts in Indonesia, India, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Brazil, Canada, Japan, and China. “I spent two hours every night talking to people,” he notes.
A surprising early lesson for Jantarakasem was that many of his interviewees already have working water-treatment facilities. Their challenge is maintaining that facility, which leads to Jantarakasem’s current goal: simplifying community-scale water-treatment systems. “I’m not looking to redesign the entire system. Instead, I want to make community-scale water-treatment systems simpler through lower costs and easier maintenance,” he says.
“There’s still much to develop,” Jantarakasem explains. “I have a responsibility. Whatever technologies I put out there have to be totally safe and sound for those communities. My mission is to ensure that everyone, no matter where they live, can rely on safe, affordable, and sustainable water.”
