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Nanotechnology-enabled systems offer much promise for solving difficult environmental problems.  This talk will focus on using nanotechnology to meet the challenge of providing clean and safe water to the world’s citizens.  In the first example, the nanoscale behavior of magnets are the basis for developing point-of-use water purification for arsenic-rich sources. High surface area and monodisperse Fe₃O₄ nanocrystals will move in very low magnetic field gradients (< 100 T/m) in a size-dependent fashion.   The striking size dependence of the magnetic separation process permits the first multiplexed separation of nanocrystals by magnetic field strength.  We believe these nanocrystals are not acting independently in the separation, but rather reversibly aggregate due to their nanoscale size and the resulting high field gradients present at their surfaces.   This phenomena makes it possible to use high specific surface area Fe₃O₄ nanocrystals in a magnetic separation process designed to remove arsenic.  It is also possible to use nanoscale materials to destroy organic contaminants in water; in our work, we demonstrate the use of C₆₀ for such a purpose.  In water, we form a colloidal form of crystallized C₆₀ which contains a porous and hydrophobic interior which can sequester organic contaminants.  These particles act as a ‘trap and treat’ site for organics, and under ultraviolet illumination can photo-oxidize model dyes with rates comparable to commercial nano-TiO₂ photocatalysts.  Finally, we show how studies of the biological properties of both systems are essential for developing their applications in environmental technology.  Characterization of the differential toxicology of these materials permits a correlation between nanoscale structure and biological impact to be discerned.  Armed with this information, we can propose ways to design nanoenabled technologies that are ‘safe by design’.