Genomic Characterization of Water Microbes for Pollution Source Tracking and Early Detection of Outbreaks

Poor water quality poses a major threat to human and animal health and a significant amount of disease could be prevented through access to safe water. The health of natural resources, such as water, is inter-related with the health of humans and animals. Polluted water is a vehicle for disease spread to humans and animals and the waterborne disease cycle can only break with holistic management approaches. Throughout history, polluted water has frequently led to waterborne disease outbreaks with acute and long-term health effects. Waterborne disease is an issue that is expected to receive increasing attention in the next decade since rapid population growth and the corresponding wastewater increase will intensify the problem in the years to come. Urbanization, population growth, and increased livestock production will drive changes and will affect exposure to waterborne disease in both rural and urban systems. Two approaches that will help manage this problem are: (1) Appropriate watershed management based on "microbial pollution source tracking", and (2) Identification and detection of early signals for potential human and livestock water-related disease outbreaks, at a population level, based on "wastewater based epidemiology" concepts. The focus of this proposal is on advanced microbial water pollution monitoring, such as DNA/RNA analysis, to support both of the above-mentioned approaches.