NEWS
Davidson Resident, Dr. Arvind Patil, Receives Grant to Further Study Dangerous Compounds in Drinking Water
Dr. Arvind Patil
Pines resident and research scientist Dr. Arvind Patil has received a $250,000 grant to continue his investigation on dangerous compounds in our drinking water. Dr. Patil received the grant from the Water Quality Research Foundation, which also gave him a Lifetime Achievement Award six years ago.
Dr. Patil is studying Per and Polyflouroalkyl (PFAS) compounds, which are pervasive in our drinking water, food, and air, because of the widespread use of products, such as Teflon, Non-stick cookware, Scotch tape, anti-soiling carpets and clothing, footwear, cosmetics, industrial products, and fire-fighting foams used by the military.
PFAS compounds accumulate in the blood and are highly toxic to human beings in Parts Per Trillion (ppt) quantities. They can cause cancer, immune-suppression, and birth defects with the under-development of brains.
The EPA has identified 29 PFAS compounds. Monitoring and removing each of these 29 would be very expensive because analysis in parts per trillion (ppt) requires exotic and complex equipment.
Patil’s research is aimed at finding a single PFAS compound to serve as an indicator for all 29, a step that would tremendously simplify and reduce treatment certification costs for these main compounds.
Dr. Patil said the grant will allow him to work with some of the best, well-equipped, and most capable laboratories in the country, as well as with well-known academic, regulatory, and industrial experts in proving the concept and applying it to treat the numerous PFAS compounds as a class, rather than each individual compound. The project will be carried out in phases and may last for three years.
A native of Pune, India, Dr. Patil holds a master’s degree in soil physics and a doctorate in small particle chemistry. He worked for most of his career for W.R. Grace and BASF in various locales around the world. He retired in 1993, but soon thereafter launched a second career with Protect Plus in Huntersville, where he has directed creation of more than 50 water filtration products and earned 70 patents for developing carbon-based technologies to remove heavy metals, such as lead, from municipal water systems.
He and his wife, Helen, were married in 1964 and moved into the Pines in 2017. Even after 44 years of research and discovery, Dr. Patil still enjoys his work, motivated by the knowledge that clean water is a universal need that he can help fill. At age 86 now, he reports regularly and eagerly to the lab in Huntersville, and says he has no plans to retire.
For more information, contact Arvind S. Patil, PH.D.
Vice President, Technical and Scientific Affairs
Protect Plus/ Ricura Technologies
11515 Vanstory Dr., Suite110
Huntersville, NC 28078
Cell- 704-562-5327
Bill Giduz
Bill Giduz was the son who followed his father’s footsteps into journalism. He has been involved his entire life with news and photography in schools he attended and jobs he’s held. He believes now that he’s got a few good years left to devote to The News of Davidson.