Jayant Bhagwan, is the Executive Manager of the key strategic area of Water Use and Waste Management at the South African Water Research Commission, which focuses on the management of water and wastewater in the Domestic, Mining and Industrial sector. He has been instrumental in creating the portfolio of research projects and innovations related to water supply and wastewater management. He completed his Masters Degree in Tropical Public Health Engineering from Leeds University, UK. With his knowledge and experienced gained in implementation of water and sanitation projects, he has played and participated in the shaping of national water policy and legislation.

He held the posts of the President of the Water Institute of Southern Africa, Chairperson of the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Water Advisory Committee, as well as international advisory positions with the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, IWA- Global Development Agency and UNEP. He continues to be actively involved in a broad range of areas in the field of water supply, wastewater and sanitation, with current focus being on sanitation technologies for the future, technology innovation and application, social franchising of O&M, conduit hydropower, benchmarking, reuse and reclamation of effluents.

Recent initiatives of his are Conduit Hydropower Generation from pressurised supply of water as a green solution for energy offsetting and compensation. Urban water sensitive design with the intention of developing an urban water cycle which is much more resilient and less dependent on transfers, using reuse, recycle and recovery options.

As part of recycle and reuse area, he has special interest in Sanitation Technology Game Changing: Shifting the technology and paradigm from waterborne to off the grid solutions dealing with human wastes beneficially at source. Currently, few of these technologies are being scaled up for demonstration in South Africa and are led by Jay.