The symposium will focus on low-cost technological solutions and underpinning scientific challenges related to water purification and monitoring, particularly relevant to developing world and northern communities in North America. The proposed symposium will bring together leading scientists and technologists in water management, end users such as government bodies and municipalities, and also social scientists that will look at the implications of deployment of water monitoring technologies in the community level. The key scientific issues to be addressed include the use of processes occurring in nature for treatment of source water; developing efficient water treatment facilities with minimal use of energy; incorporation of advancement in micro- and nanotechnologies for water purification and monitoring; and finally the challenges faced by the emerging technologies in field-scale deployment and its uptake by the community.