Nicolás Peleato

Assistant Professor

Civil

Office: EME3205
Phone: 250.807.8852
Email: nicolas.peleato@ubc.ca

Research Summary

Evaluation of drinking water treatment processes; Source water quality assessment; Integrated data analysis and machine learning pertaining to water quality

Courses & Teaching

Environmental bioengineering; Water and wastewater treatment; Hydrology and hydraulics; Engineering mathematics; Municipal engineering

Biography

Nicolas Miguel Peleato is an assistant professor at the Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia.  He received his PhD from the University of Toronto for his research on advanced characterization of organic matter for the evaluation of drinking water treatment processes and assessing source water quality.  This research extended into a post doctoral fellowship evaluating the role and mechanisms of protein conformation on membrane fouling on a fundamental level of model compounds.  Furthermore, he has focused on integrating data analysis and machine learning methods to leverage insights into water quality.  The ultimate goal of his research is to find low-cost and simple pre-treatment methods to improve drinking water treatment systems.

Outside academia, Dr. Peleato worked for an environmental engineering firm specializing in issues related to drinking water treatment systems where he played a lead role in designing leachate collection systems, portable drinking water distribution systems for large-scale events.

Within his research group at UBC, Dr. Peleato seeks to advance the technology, evaluation and monitoring of drinking water treatment through integrated large-scale data analysis and hands-on research to further understand fundamental mechanisms relevant to advanced water treatment operations.

Dr. Peleato is an accredited professional engineer and a member of the American Water Works Association.

Degrees

Post-Doctoral Fellowship – University of Toronto

PhD – (Civil Engineering) University of Toronto

MASc – (Civil Engineering) University of Toronto

​BASc – (Chemical Engineering) University of Toronto

Selected Publications & Presentations

Panidhapu, A., Li, Z., Aliashrafi, A., & Peleato, N.M. (2019). Integration of Weather Conditions for Predicting Microbial Water Quality using Bayesian Belief Networks. Water Research, (in press).

Yang, Y., Peleato, N.M., Legge, R.L., & Andrews, R.C. (2019). Towards Real-time Detection of Wastewater in Surface Waters using Fluorescence Spectroscopy. Journal of Environmental Sciences, (in press).

Yang, Y., Peleato, N.M., Legge, R.L., & Andrews, R.C. (2019). Fluorescence Excitation Emission Matrices for Rapid Detection of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Pesticides in Surface Waters. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, 5, 315-324.

Tang, C., Peleato, N.M., Berube, P.R., & Andrews, R.C. (2019). Impact of Low Coagulant Dosages on Protein Fouling of Ultrafiltration Membranes. Journal of Water Process Engineering, 31, 100801.

Peleato, N.M. Legge, R.L., & Andrews, R.C. (2018) Neural Networks for Dimensionality Reduction of Fluorescence Spectra and Prediction of Drinking Water Disinfection By-products.  Water Research, 136, 84-94.

Peleato, N.M., Legge, R.L., & Andrews, R.C. (2017) Characterization of UF Foulants and Fouling Mechanisms When Applying Low In-line Coagulant Pre-treatment. Water Research, 126, 1-11.

Peleato, N.M., Sidhu, B.S., Legge, R.L., & Andrews, R.C. (2017). Investigation of ozone and peroxone impacts on natural organic matter character and biofiltration performance using fluorescence spectroscopy. Chemosphere. 172, 225-233.

Peleato, N.M., Legge, R.L., & Andrews, R.C. (2017). Continuous organic characterization using fluorescence for biological and membrane filter performance monitoring. Journal American Water Works Association. 109(4), E86-E98. **2018 AWWA Membrane Treatment Best Paper

Peleato, N.M., Legge, R.L., & Andrews, R.C. (2017). Investigation of fluorescence methods for rapid detection of municipal wastewater impact on drinking water sources. Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, 171, 104-111.

Nemani, V.A., Taylor-Edmonds, L., Peleato, N.M., & Andrews, R.C. (2016). Impact of operational parameters on biofiltration performance: organic carbon removal and effluent turbidity. Water Science and Technology: Water Supply, 16(6), 1683-1692.

Peleato, N.M., McKie, M., Taylor-Edmonds, L., Andrews, S.A., Legge, R.L., & Andrews, R.C. (2016). Fluorescence spectroscopy for monitoring reduction of natural organic matter and halogenated furanone precursors by biofiltration. Chemosphere, 153, 155-161.

Peleato, N.M., & Andrews, R.C. (2015). Comparison of three-dimensional fluorescence analysis methods for predicting formation of trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids. Journal of Environmental Sciences, 27, 159-167.

Peleato, N.M., & Andrews, R.C. (2015). Contributions of spatial, temporal, and treatment impacts on natural organic matter character using fluorescence-based measures. Water Science and Technology: Water Supply, 15(3), 589-598.

Peleato, N.M., Armour, J., & Andrews, R.C. (2014). Statistical significance testing of parallel pilot-scale coagulation optimization study to compare aluminum sulfate and polyaluminum chloride performance. Journal of Water Supply: Research and Technology-AQUA, 63(7), 532-540.