Harsha Ratnaweera is a Professor in Water and Wastewater Technology at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (part-time from 2001, full time from 2012). He was employed as the Director of International Projects and Innovation at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) 1991-2012, where he initiated and led NIVA's commercialization of research results. He has a Dr. Ing. degree in Civil Engineering (1992) from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU, and a MSc (Hons) Chemical Engineering (1987) from the National Technical University of Ukraine KPI, Ukraine.
Harsha is a Distingushed Fellow of the International Water Association (IWA) and a Director of the Board of IWA. He is the Vice President of the European Water Association - EWA. Harsha is a Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences and the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences.
Harsha’s research areas are on modelling and optimization of coagulation processes in water and wastewater treatment; Real‐time monitoring and control of treatment processes; Holistic optimization of sewerage systems; virtual sensors and validation of measurements; membrane process; image analysis for sensor development; water resources management; and harmonisation of water-related graduate studies in Asia, Africa and Eurasia with Norway.
He has been a member of the Norwegian National Commission for UNESCO and serves as the Chairman and a Board Member in several water and environment related organisations in Norway. He has worked as an advisor/consultant to the World Bank, UNECE, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NORAD and SIDA. He has worked in many countries in Asia, Africa, Eastern and Western Europe and fluent in English, Norwegian and Russian languages.
Harsha has initiated and leading a network of projects involving 100 universities form 54 countries (www.WaterHarmony.net). He has also lead the organisation of four international conferences in IWA Particle Separation Conference, Oslo and EWA Water Management in Cold Climates, Spitsbergen in June 2016, EWA Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems, Oslo, 2019 and 2nd IWA-EWA Conference on Water Management in Cold Climates, Harbin, China in 2020. Harsha is chairing the EWA Spring conference on Addressing changes to the Urban Wastewater Directive in May 2025 and the 14th IWA conference on Instrumentation, Control and Automation in June 2025, both in Oslo.
More information: www.WaterHarmony.net
Liste med publikasjoner fra min forskning. (Cristin)
2020: Ratnaweera, H. Meeting tomorrow’s challenges in particle separation with coagulation. In Multidisciplinary Advances in Efficient Separation Processes, Editor: Chernyshova, I. American Chemical Society, USA, Chapter 7pp 207-223, doi: 10.1021/bk-2020-1348.ch007
2020: Nair, A.M., Hykkerud, A., Ratnaweera, H. A cost-effective IoT strategy for remote deployment of soft sensors – A case study on implementing a soft sensor in a multistage MBBR plant. Water Science & Technology, wst2020067, doi.org/10.2166/wst.2020.067.
2019: Nair, A.M.; Fanta, A.; Haugen, F.A.; Ratnaweera, H. Implementing an Extended Kalman Filter for estimating nutrient composition in a sequential batch MBBR pilot plant. Water Science & Technology, , 80(2), 317-328pp, 2019, doi: 10.2166/wst.2019.272
2019: Kulesha, O.; Ratnaweera, H. Computational Thermodynamic Analysis of the Interaction between Coagulants and Monosaccharides as a Tool to Quantify the Fouling Potential Reduction in the Biofilm Membrane Bioreactor. Water, 1275, 11, 2019. doi:10.3390/w11061275
2019: Kulesha, O.; Maletskyi, Z.; Kvaal, K.; Ratnaweera, H. Strategy for Flux Enhancement in Biofilm Membrane Bioreactor Applying Prepolymerized and Non-Prepolypermized Inorganic Coagulants. Water, 446, 11, 2019. doi:10.3390/w11030446
2019: Maletskyi, Z.; Zigta, D.K.; Kulesha, O.; Ratnaweera, H. Chemical Enhancement for Retrofitting Moving Bed Biofilm and Integrated Fixed film Activated Sludge Systems into Membrane Bioreactors Membranes, 135, 9, 2019. doi:10.3390/membranes9100135
2019: Ratnaweera, Harsha; Smoczynski, Lech; Kalinowski, Slawomir; Cretescu, Igor; Smoczynski, Michal; Trifescu, Mihaela; Kosobucka, Marta. Study of Sludge Particles Formed during Coagulation of Synthetic and Municipal Wastewater for Increasing the Sludge Dewatering Efficiency. Water 2019 ;Volume 11.(101) p. 1-15
2018: Koronkiewicz, Stanislawa; Trifescu, Mihaela; Smoczynski, Lech; Ratnaweera, Harsha; Kalinowski, Slawomir. A novel automatic flow method with direct-injection photometric detector for determination of dissolved reactive phosphorus in wastewater and freshwater samples. Environmental Monitoring & Assessment 2018 ;Volume 190.(3)
2018: Kulesha, Olga; Maletskyi, Zakhar; Ratnaweera, Harsha.
Multivariate chemometric analysis of membrane fouling patterns in biofilm ceramic Membrane bioreactor. Water 2018 ;Volume 10.(8) p. 1-23
2018: Kulesha, Olga; Maletskyi, Zakhar; Ratnaweera, Harsha.
State-of-the-art of membrane flux enhancement in membrane bioreactor. Cogent Engineering 2018
2018: Liu, W; Ratnaweera, Harsha; Kvaal, Knut.
Model-based measurement error detection of a coagulant dosage control system. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology 2018 p. 1-10
2018: Ratnaweera, Harsha; Jenssen Sola, Kristin; Bjerkholt, Jarle Tommy; Lindholm, Oddvar G..
Infiltration and Inflow (I/I) to Wastewater Systems inNorway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. Water 2018 ;Volume 10.(1696) p. 1-17
2018: Ratnaweera, Harsha; Suthakaran, Navaratnam; Ketheesan, B; Subramaniam Sivakumar, Saravanamuttu.
Challenges in Utilizing Water Resources in Lower Reaches of Kanakarayanaru of Northern Sri Lanka for Efficient and Equitable Water Allocation. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & ENGINEERING RESEARCH, 2018 ;Volume 9.(7) p. 821-826
2018: Ratnaweera, Harsha; Zhang, Duo; Lindholm, Geir.
DeepCSO: Forecasting of Combined Sewer Overflow at a Citywide Level using Multi-task Deep Learning. arXiv.org 2018 p. 1-23
2018: Ratnaweera, Harsha; Zhang, Duo; Lindholm, Geir; Martinez Almario, Nicolas. Exploiting Capacity of Sewer System Using Unsupervised Learning Algorithms Combined with Dimensionality Reduction. arXiv.org 2018 p. 1-29
2018: Ratnaweera, Harsha; Zhang, Duo; Skullestad Hølland, Erland; Lindholm, Geir. Enhancing Operation of a Sewage Pumping Station for Inter Catchment Wastewater Transfer by Using Deep Learning and Hydraulic Model. arXiv.org 2018 p. 1-25
2018: Sivchenko, Nataliia; Kvaal, Knut; Ratnaweera, Harsha.
Floc sensor prototype tested in the municipal wastewater treatment plant. Cogent Engineering 2018 ;Volume 5.(1)
2018: Wang, Xiaodong; Bi, Xuejun; Liu, Changqing; Ratnaweera, Harsha. Identifying critical components causing seasonal variation of activated sludge settleability and developing early warning tool. Water Science and Technology 2018 ; Volume 77.(6) p. 1689-1697
2018: Wang, Xiaodong; Xuejun, Bi; Hem, Lars John; Ratnaweera, Harsha. Microbial community composition of a multi-stage moving bed biofilm reactor and its interaction with kinetic model parameters estimation. Journal of Environmental Management 2018 ; Volume 218. p. 340-347
2018: Zhang, Duo; Lindholm, Geir; Ratnaweera, Harsha.
Use long short-term memory to enhance Internet of Things for combined sewer overflow monitoring. Journal of Hydrology 2018 ;Volume 556. p. 409-418
2018: Zhang, Duo; Martinez, Nicolas; Lindholm, Geir; Ratnaweera, Harsha. Manage Sewer In-Line Storage Control Using Hydraulic Model and Recurrent Neural Network. Water resources management 2018 ;Volume 32.(6) p. 2079-2098
2017: Kulesha, Olga; Maletskyi, Zakhar; Todt, Daniel; Ratnaweera, Harsha. Development and validation of performance evaluation protocol for small wastewater treatment MBR system. International IWA Conference on Sustainable Solutions for Small Water and Wastewater Treatment Systems 2017 p. 671-673
2017: Sivchenko, Nataliia; Ratnaweera, Harsha; Kvaal, Knut.
Approbation of the texture analysis imaging technique in the wastewater treatment plant. Cogent Engineering 2017 ;Volume 4.(1)
2017: Victor-Ortega, Maria Dolores; Ratnaweera, Harsha.
Double filtration as an effective system for removal of arsenate and arsenite from drinking water through reverse osmosis. Process Safety and Environmental Protection 2017 ; Volume 111. p. 399-408
2017: Zhang, D., Hølland, E.S., Lindholm, G., Ratnaweera, H.: Hydraulic modeling and deep learning based flow forecasting for optimizing inter catchment wastewater, Journal of Hydrology, Available online 21 November, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.11.029
2017: Wei, L., Ratnaweera, H.: Feed-forward-based software sensor for outlet turbidity of coagulation process considering plug flow condition. International journal of Environmental Science and Technology, DOI: 10.1007/s13762-017-1284-4.
2017: Wang, X., Kvaal, K., Ratnaweera, H.: Characterization of influent wastewater with periodic variation and snow melting effect in cold climate area. J. of Computers & Chemical Engineering, 106, 202-21, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compchemeng.2017.06.009
2017: Wang, X., Ratnaweera, H., Holm, J.A., Olsbu, V.: Statistical monitoring and dynamic simulation of a wastewater treatment plant: A combined approach to achieve model predictive control. Journal of Environmental Management 193, 1-7
2017: Manamperuma, L., Wei, L., Ratnaweera, H. Multi-parameter based coagulant dosing control. Water Science and Technology 75 (9), 2157-2162
2017: Vijakanth, V., Sivakumar, S., Ratnaweera, H.: WaterAvailability Study of Groundwater in Jaffna Peninsula of Northern Sri Lanka. International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research, 8(1):1563-1567
2017: Smoczyński, L., Kalinowski, S., Ratnaweera, H., Kosobucka, M., Trifescu, M. Pieczulis-Smoczyńska, K.: Electrocoagulation of municipal wastewater - a pilot-scale test. Desalination and water treatment 72:162-168. DOI: 10.5004/dwt.2017.2065
2017: Smoczyński, L., Ratnaweera, H., Smoczyński, M., Kosobucka, M., Pieczulis-Smoczyńska, K.: Sizes of particles formed during municipal wastewater treatment, Water Science & Technology 75(4), DOI: 10.2166/wst.2016.546
2016: Manamperuma, L., Ratnaweera, H., Heistad, A., Vasenko, L. Effect of degree of prepolymerisation of coagulant and ratio of phosphate-inorganic metal on coagulated sludge. International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management 19(3/4):278–287. DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2016.10003115
2016: Manamperuma, Lelum Duminda M.; Wei, Liu; Ratnaweera, Harsha. Multi-parameter based coagulant dosing control. IWA conference for the specialist group on particle separation, 2016, Oslo, Norway.; 2016-06-23 - 2016-06-25
2016: Sivchenko, Nataliia; Ratnaweera, Harsha; Kvaal, Knut.
Approbation of the texture analysis imaging technique in the wastewater treatment plant. Advances in particle science and separation: meeting tomorrow's challenges; 2016-06-22 - 2016-06-24
2016: Wang, Xiaodong; Bi, Xunjun; Liu, Changqing; Ratnaweera, Harsha. Systematical Study of Activated Sludge Settleability Seasonal Variation Based on Multivariate Statistical Analysis. European Water Association Conference:Water management in cold climate; 2016-06-25 - 2016-06-27
2016: Liu, W., & Ratnaweera, H. Improvement of multi-parameter based feed-forward coagulant dosing control systems with feed-back functionalities. Water Science and Technology, wst2016180.
2016: Sivchenko, N., Kvaal, K., & Ratnaweera, H. Evaluation of image texture recognition techniques in application to wastewater coagulation. Cogent Engineering, 3: 1206679, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311916.2016.1206679).
2016: Smoczyński, L., Ratnaweera, H., Kosobucka, M., Smoczyński, M., Kalinowski, S., & Kvaal, K. Modelling the structure of sludge aggregates. Environmental technology, 37(9), 1122-1132.
2016: Manamperuma, L. D., Ratnaweera, H. C., & Martsul, A. Mechanisms during suspended solids and phosphate concentration variations in wastewater coagulation process. Environmental technology, 1-17. doi:10.1080/09593330.2016.1150354
2016: Kozminykh, P., Heistad, A., Ratnaweera, H. C., & Todt, D. Impact of organic polyelectrolytes on coagulation of source-separated black water.Environmental technology, 37(14), 1723-1732.
2016: Smoczynski, Lech; Ratnaweera, Harsha; Kosobucka, Marta; Smoczynski, Michal; Pieczulis-Smoczynska, Krystyna; CRETESCU, Igor.
Size of aggregates formed during coagulation and electrocoagulation of synthetic wastewater. Journal of Environmental Protection and Ecology 2016 ; Volume 17.(3) p. 1160-1170
2015: Kalashnykov, Yurii; Sivchenko, Nataliia; Ratnaweera, Harsha; Kvaal, Knut. Relationships between floc features and coagulation-flocculation treatment efficiencies of various model wastewaters. I: Selected publications from the Water Harmony Project: Water Research and Technology. Norway: Water Harmony Project 2015 ISBN 9788299997812. p. 81-89
2015: Manamperuma, Lelum Duminda M.; Ratnaweera, Harsha; Heistad, Arve; Martsul, Alena; Vasenko, Liubov.
Impact on plant availability of phosphorus in sludge after coagulation. Nutrient Removal and Recovery moving innovation into practice; 2015-05-18 - 2015-05-21
2015: Manamperuma, Lelum Duminda M.; Ratnaweera, Harsha.
Coagulation mechanisms during the substitution of inorganic salts with cationic polymers to increase the sludge value.. Journal of Water Resource and Protection 2015 ;Volume 7.(17) p. 1495-1501
2015: Martsul, Alena; Manamperuma, Lelum Duminda M.; Ratnaweera, Harsha. Improvement of plant availability of phosphates in coagulated sludge. I: Selected publications from the Water Harmony Project: Water Research and Technology. Norway: Water Harmony Project 2015 ISBN 9788299997812. p. 116-122
2015: Ratnaweera, Harsha; Astrelin, Igor. Selected publications from the Water Harmony Project: Water Research and Technology. Norway: Water Harmony Project 2015 (ISBN 9788299997812) 320 p.
2015: Ratnaweera, Harsha; Fettig, Joachim. State of the Art of Online Monitoring and Control of the Coagulation Process. Water 2015 ; Volume 7.(11) p. 6574-6597
2015: Vasenko, Liubov; Manamperuma, Lelum Duminda M.; Heistad, Arve; Ratnaweera, Harsha. Improvement of plant availability of Phosphates during coagulation. I: Selected publications from the Water Harmony Project: Water Research and Technology. Norway: Water Harmony Project 2015 ISBN 9788299997812. p. 253-260
2015: Manamperuma, L. and Ratnaweera, H. Coagulation Mechanisms during the Substitution of Inorganic Salts with Cationic Polymers to Increase the Sludge Value. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 7, 1495-1501. doi: 10.4236/jwarp.2015.717123.
2015: Ratnaweera, H. and Fettig, J.: State of the art of on-line monitoring and control of the coagulation process. Review paper: Water 7(11):6574-6597, DOI: 10.3390/w7116574
2015: Smoczyński, L; Ratnaweera, H; Kosobucka, M; Smoczyński, M; Kalinowski, S and Kvaal, K: Modelling the structure of sludge aggregates, Environmental Technology 37(9):1-11 November 2015, DOI: 10.1080/09593330.2015.1102332
2015: Astrelin I; Ratnaweera, H: Physical water and wastewater treatment, textbook for graduate studies, Water Harmony, Norway
2014: SmoczynIski, Lech; Ratnaweera, Harsha; Kosobucka, Marta; SmoczynIski, Michal. Erratum: Image analysis of sludge aggregates (Sep. Purif. Technol. (2014):122:412-420). Separation and Purification Technology 2014 ; Volume 135.
2014: Smoczyński, Lech; Ratnaweera, Harsha; Kosobucka, Marta; Smoczyński, Michał. Image Analysis of Sludge Aggregates. Separation and Purification Technology 2014 ; Volume 122.(10. Feb.) p. 412-420
2014: Sivchenko, N; Kvaal, K; Ratnaweera, H; 2014: Image analysis of flocs and mathematical modelling applied to coagulation-flocculation process. IWA Specialist Conference “Advances in particle science and separation: from mm to nm scale and beyond", June 15-18, Sapporo, Japan.
2014: Manamperuma L, Ratnaweera H, (2014) Coagulation mechanisms during the substitution of inorganic salts with cationic polymers to increase the sludge value. IWA Conference Advances in particle science and separation, Sapporo, Japan, 15-18 June 2014.
2014: Wei, L; Ratnaweera, H; Heping, S; 2014: Improving a multi-parameter based dosing control system; Proceedings of Advances in Particle Science and Separation: From mm to nm scale and beyond, IWA Specialist Conference, Sapporo, Japan, June 15-18 2014
2014: Smoczynski, L; Ratnaweera, H; Kosobucka, M; Smoczynski, M; Image analysis of sludge aggregates, Separation and Purification Technology, 135, 286-286, Elsevier Science
2014: Smoczyński, L; Ratnaweera, H; Kosobucka, M; Kvaal, K; Smoczyński, M; 2014: Image analysis of sludge aggregates obtained at preliminary treatment of sewage, Water Science & Technology, 70, 6, 1048-1055, IWA Publishing
2014: Kosobuka, M: Smoczynski, L; Ratnaweera, H; Wardzynsja, R; Zaleska-Chrost, B; 2014: Prelimenray removal of phosphates from municipal wastewater, Proceedings of ECOpole, 8, 2, 393
2013: Wei, L., Ratnaweera, H., Heping, S. 2013: Better treatment efficiencies and process economics with real-time coagulant dosing control; Proceedings of the Instrumentation, Control and Automation ICA 2013 Conference, Narbonne, France, 18-20 September 2013
2013: Sivchenko, N; Kvaal, K; Ratnaweera, H; 2013: Characterization of flocs in coagulation-flocculation process by image analysis and mathematical modelling. 13th Nordic Wastewater Conference, October 8–10, Malmö, Sweden.
2013: Ratnaweera, H; 2013: Phosphorus recovery from wastewater: should we redesign our treatment plants?, 2013, VANN, 04, 551-556 (in Norwegian)
2013: Manamperuma L; Ratnaweera H; Rathnaweera S; 2013: Retrofitting coagulant dosing control using real-time water quality measurements to reduce coagulant consumption, Instrumentation, Control and Automation Conference (ICA) 2013, Narbonne, France, 18-20 September 2013
2012: Ratnaweera, Harsha. Role of innovation in water supply and sanitation. Latest international achievements in chemical industry and construction material production; 2012-11-22 - 2012-11-23
2009: Plosz, B; Liltved, H; Ratnaweera, H; 2009: Climate change impacts on activated sludge wastewater treatment: a case study from Norway, Water Science & Technology, 60, 2, 533–541, IWA Publishing
2008: Håkonsen, Tor; Helgesen, Harald; Ratnaweera, Harsha; Lindholm, Oddvar. Bruk av kitosan i vannbehandling - praktiske erfaringer: Practical use of chitosan in water treatment. Nordisk Drikkevannskonferanse; 2008-06-09 - 2008-06-11
2008: Håkonsen, Tor; Ratnaweera, Harsha; Lindholm, Oddvar.
The use of chitosan in water treatment - an evaluation of practical application. "Leading Edge Technologies-LET08" IWA-Conference; 2008-06-01 - 2008-06-04
2005: Ratnaweera, Harsha. Challenges and Opportunities in Implementation of the WFD in Norway. XXV INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF HYDRAULICS; 2005-09-12 - 2005-12-16
2005: Ratnaweera, Harsha. Coastal Zone management experiences from Sri Lanka; the road to achieving goals in a variable political and administrative landscape. Norwegian Forum for Development Cooperation in Fisheries: Sri Lanka for beginners; 2005-10-26 - 2005-10-27
2005: Ratnaweera, Harsha. Integrated water resources management and knowledge transfer. OECD Workshop on International Scientific and Technological Co-operation for Sustainable Development; 2005-11-20 - 2005-11-23
2005: Ratnaweera, Harsha; Smoczynski, Lech; Lewandowski, Andrzej. Efficient coagulant dosing in wastewater treatment. ? 2005 (505) p. 347-352
2003: Lei, Lu; Ratnaweera, Harsha; Lindholm, Oddvar.
Coagulant dosage control in chemical wastewater treatment plants- A review and modeling approaches. Vatten 2003 ;Volume 59.(4) p. 227-236
2002: Lei, Lu; Ratnaweera, Harsha; Lindholm, Oddvar.
Simulation Program for Wastewater Coagulation. 10th International Gothenburg Symposium on Chemical Water and Wastewater Treatment; 2002-06-17 - 2002-06-19
2002: Lei, Lu; Ratnaweera, Harsha; Lindholm, Oddvar; Lileng, Knut.
Model-based real-time control of coagulant dosing. Int. conf. of Automation in water quality AutMoNet 2002; 2002-05-21 - 2002-05-22
2002: Ratnaweera, Harsha; Lindholm, Oddvar; Lei, Lu.
Simulation Programs for Waste Water Coagulation. Water Science and Technology 2002 ; Volume 46.(04.mai) p. 27-33
2001: Ratnaweera, Harsha; Lei, Lu; Lindholm, Oddvar.
Simulation program for wastewater coagulation. IWA - conference; 2001-10-15 - 2001-10-18
THT271, THT272, THT201, THT310, THT311, THT312
My projects (selected list)