The next appointment in the PhDTalks seminar series will take place on Tuesday, May 12th, 2026, in Grandori Room (Building 4), from 12:00 to 13:00 CET.
PhDTalks is a series of seminars and discussions among PhD candidates. The events aim to provide a space for networking among doctoral students and for engaging with the many projects developed within our department.
The speaker Marco Matracchi will deliver a seminar entitled “Integrated strategies for safe drinking water supply management: linking chemical and microbial stability to human health risks”
At the end of the event, a light refreshment will be offered, sponsored by the department.
The seminar will also be accessible online at the following link.
Abstract
Supplying drinking water to consumers requires treatments and distribution through a complex network, where ensuring chemical and microbial stability is essential to prevent both acute and chronic health hazards. This is particularly relevant as water is increasingly used for irrigating home-grown vegetables within more sustainable lifestyle practices. This PhD research focuses on developing strategies and guidelines to monitor water quality in distribution networks to support safe and effective management, considering both microbial and chemical hazards. The assessment of potential human health impact is based on the integration of innovative microbial sampling, chemical fingerprint, CALUX-derived toxicity data and risk assessment approaches, enabling the apportionment of contributions from multiple contaminants and exposure pathways.
Speaker’s Bio
Marco is a PhD student in Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering at DICA (39th cycle). He holds an MSc in Environmental and Land Planning Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, obtained in 2023. His PhD is part of the Horizon Europe project SafeCREW (www.safecrew.org).
His research focuses on improving the monitoring of drinking water, considering both microbiological and chemical parameters. He completed a six-months visiting period at the Ulster University, in Belfast, Northern Irland. Moreover, he also spent three weeks in a drinking water treatment plant in L’Ampolla, Spain, managed by the Consorci d’Aigües de Tarragona, where he performed experimental activities. In his free time, he enjoys music and doing sport.