Jörg E. Drewes is Chair Professor of Urban Water Systems Engineering at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany, where he also serves as Academic Director of the Environmental Engineering Program and as a member of TUM’s Appointment and Tenure Board. Before joining TUM in 2013, he served as Full Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), USA (2001-2013) and Director of Research for the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center on Reinventing the Nation’s Urban Water Infrastructure (ReNUWIt). From 2010-2011, he was appointed as Associate Director and Visiting Professor of the Water Desalination and Reuse Center at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi-Arabia. Prior to joining CSM, he served as the Associate Director of the National Center for Sustainable Water Supply (NCSWS) at Arizona State University, USA.
Professor Drewes’ research and scholarly activities are in the field of energy-efficient advanced water and wastewater treatment, water reuse and risk management in the context of public health protection. In particular, he is interested in the integrated management of local and regional water cycles and the development of new treatment concepts that combine natural and engineering approaches; decentralized and centralized water reuse; support for drinking water supplies; and comprehensive assessment approaches for organic trace substances (pharmaceuticals, household chemicals, per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances) and pathogens as well as antibiotic resistance to ensure safe water quality. Prof. Drewes has published more than 380 scientific peer-reviewed articles (h-index 72, Scopus).
Professor Drewes is co-chair of the Advisory Council on Global Change directly advising the German Government (WBGU) since 2020 and co-chair since 2024. He was awarded the Willy-Hager Medal in 2025 for outstanding contribution to scientific research into the fundamentals and processes of water treatment, the Bavarian State Medal for outstanding services to the environment and the William Dunbar Medal of the European Water Association in 2022. He is a Fellow of the International Water Association (IWA) and a member of the Strategic Council of IWA. He also served as the Chair of IWA’s Water Reuse Specialist Group (2013-2019). He is also the co-chair of the Drinking Water Commission, German Federal Ministry of Health and serves as the Associate Editor of ACS Environmental Science & Technology. Dr. Drewes served on multiple science advisory panels and chaired blue-ribbon panels on topics related to public health, engineering, drinking water supply, and reliability of water reuse projects in the U.S., Australia, Germany, and the European Union.
