SDG 14: Life Below Water

1Research for oceans, rivers and lakes

UPES researchers study and protect aquatic life, from dugongs and river dolphins to the plankton that shape the Arabian Sea, and develop ways to keep plastics and other pollutants out of water.

The figures below cover UPES research publications on oceans, rivers, lakes and water quality from 2021 to 2025 (source: Scopus, October 2026).

What the research covers

Number of 2021–2025 papers on each theme (a paper can appear under more than one).

Most cited work on water and aquatic life

1. Micro- and nano-plastics (MNPs) as emerging pollutant in ground water: Environmental impact, potential risks, limitations and way forward towards sustainable management (Chemical Engineering Journal, 2023), cited 196 times.
2. Adsorptive behavior of micro(nano)plastics through biochar: Co-existence, consequences, and challenges in contaminated ecosystems (Science of the Total Environment, 2023), cited 161 times.
3. Multi-hazards coastal vulnerability assessment of Goa, India, using geospatial techniques (Ocean and Coastal Management, 2014), cited 130 times.
4. A discussion of microplastics in soil and risks for ecosystems and food chains (Chemosphere, 2023), cited 127 times.
5. Smart IoT and Machine Learning-based Framework for Water Quality Assessment and Device Component Monitoring (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2022), cited 124 times.

The full list of 182 publications since 2007, with links, is on the life-below-water research publications page (also available as a spreadsheet).

Research spotlights

Student innovation

• Watching the environment from above. For his M.Tech thesis, Sajal Sharma built an unmanned aerial vehicle for environmental health monitoring.
• Water and the sea. Students have worked on solar-powered desalination, sustainable aquaculture, marine energy, water testing and smart flow monitoring.

Patents and intellectual property

UPES holds 2,314+ intellectual property rights, including 813 patents (139 granted), 943 designs and 558 copyrights (December 2025). Life Below Water is one of the ten Sustainable Development Goals that the portfolio maps to.

2Keeping pollution out of the water

UPES treats and reuses its wastewater and cuts plastic so that less pollution reaches rivers and, eventually, the sea.

• Zero water discharge. All campus wastewater is treated and recycled on site, so none is released untreated into nearby streams.
• Rainwater. Harvesting pits fitted with flow meters recharge groundwater in a controlled way.
• Less plastic. NSS runs "Say No to Single-Use Plastic" campaigns, "Best out of Waste" competitions and waste segregation at campus events.

Policy

The UPES Energy, Environment & Sustainability Policy (2025) commits the university to:

• Safe wastewater. Treating and safely disposing of wastewater, recycling it and discharging only responsibly, and preventing contamination of natural water sources (§5.2, §5.3.2).
• Saving water. Rainwater harvesting, water-efficient fixtures and regular monitoring and maintenance of water supply systems (§5.2).
• Cutting waste at source. Reduce, reuse and recycle, segregation of biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste, composting, and a plastic-free, clean campus (§5.3.1, §5.4).
• Hazardous electronics. Collecting e-waste and disposing of it through certified recyclers (§5.3.3).

An Energy, Environment & Sustainability Committee monitors resource use and environmental performance, and the university keeps records of its initiatives and reports on them.

3Rivers, communities and awareness

UPES students clean rivers, teach communities to save water and raise awareness of ocean health.

• Project Naraini. Students of the Global Society for Social Soldiers (GS3) have run five river-cleaning drives in Dehradun.
• Cleaner neighbourhoods. Through Project Swachhata, students clean up villages such as Bidholi, plant trees and raise environmental awareness.
• Workshops. During Swachhta Pakhwara, NSS volunteers ran workshops on waste management and water conservation for nearby communities.
• Interning for marine conservation. Through the Srijan Social Internship, students spent eight weeks in 2026 with MARS – Centre for Sustainable Community Development, working on wildlife and marine-life conservation and community environmental issues.
• A forum on Asian water. From 6 to 8 August 2025 UPES hosted the 5th International Forum on Asian Water Environment Technology (IFAWET-5) in Dehradun with the University of Tokyo, Tecnológico de Monterrey, the National Institute of Hydrology and IIT Roorkee, with participants from 12 countries sharing innovations in water and environmental technology.
• Save the Oceans. NSS campaigns, rallies and street plays highlight plastic pollution, and World Oceans Day talks cover ocean pollution, coral reefs, overfishing and marine biodiversity.

4Learning about water and the sea

UPES teaches students the science and law that underpin the protection of aquatic ecosystems.

• Degrees. Programmes in Geology, Environmental Science and Earth Science cover water resources, pollution control, biodiversity and conservation, with marine topics taught across environmental and energy programmes.
• Environmental law. In September 2024 the School of Law, with the Uttarakhand Forest Department and Pollution Control Board, held an international conference on environmental sustainability and energy law covering biodiversity conservation and environmental governance.

Events and activities

5 events from UPES schools, departments and programmes support this goal. Each links to the original LinkedIn post.

School of Business · 20th March 2025

UPES Takes a Major Step Towards Global Academic Excellence in Maritime, Logistics, Aviation, Oil, Gas, and…

UPES Takes a Major Step Towards Global Academic Excellence in Maritime, Logistics, Aviation, Oil, Gas, and Energy! On 20th March 2025, we hosted delegates from the…

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School of Business

Exploring the Future of Trade, Energy, and Maritime Technology!

At UPES School of Business, we recently had the honor of hosting a seminar by remarkable experts: Mr. manish upreti, Dr. Anand Gupta and Dr. Amit Sharma, who shared…

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School of Law · September 26, 2024

Celebrating World Maritime Day at UPES School of Law!

We are thrilled to share that we commemorated World Maritime Day on September 26, 2024, under the theme "Navigating the Future: Safety First." It was an immense honor…

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Hosted at UPES · 6–8 August 2025

5th International Forum on Asian Water Environment Technology (IFAWET-5)

With the University of Tokyo, Tecnológico de Monterrey, NIH Roorkee and IIT Roorkee; participants from Mexico, Japan, Germany, South Korea, the USA, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam, Bangladesh, Thailand, Nepal and India.

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Srijan Social Internship · June–July 2026

Srijan internship with MARS – Centre for Sustainable Community Development

An eight-week internship on wildlife conservation, marine life, environmental concerns and community-level issues.

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See all UPES events mapped to the SDGs

All sources

Every website and document used in this report, and the sections it supports.