Pub Date : 2024-08-12DOI: 10.1038/s41545-024-00368-9
Meysam Khodaparast, Dave Sharley, Stephen Marshall, Travis Beddoe
Rapid and precise detection of waterborne pathogens is critical for effective public health management and environmental safety. Traditional methods for water quality monitoring, considered the “Gold Standard,” are time-consuming, costly, and rely on centralized laboratories and expertise. These methods are impractical for on-site, real-time monitoring, and requiring further improvements. This review explores various waterborne pathogens and cutting-edge molecular detection techniques. It highlights the growing importance of point-of-care and point-of-application methods to expedite results and improve health risk management. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification emerges as a reliable, rapid, and accessible tool in the realms of on-site diagnostics and surveillance. Moreover, the review emphasizes the crucial role of water sample preparation and in-field nucleic acid isolation in augmenting pathogen detection to enable precise assessments of water quality. The advancement of these techniques will guarantee access to safe water and improve the management of waterborne diseases.
{"title":"Advances in point-of-care and molecular techniques to detect waterborne pathogens","authors":"Meysam Khodaparast, Dave Sharley, Stephen Marshall, Travis Beddoe","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00368-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00368-9","url":null,"abstract":"Rapid and precise detection of waterborne pathogens is critical for effective public health management and environmental safety. Traditional methods for water quality monitoring, considered the “Gold Standard,” are time-consuming, costly, and rely on centralized laboratories and expertise. These methods are impractical for on-site, real-time monitoring, and requiring further improvements. This review explores various waterborne pathogens and cutting-edge molecular detection techniques. It highlights the growing importance of point-of-care and point-of-application methods to expedite results and improve health risk management. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification emerges as a reliable, rapid, and accessible tool in the realms of on-site diagnostics and surveillance. Moreover, the review emphasizes the crucial role of water sample preparation and in-field nucleic acid isolation in augmenting pathogen detection to enable precise assessments of water quality. The advancement of these techniques will guarantee access to safe water and improve the management of waterborne diseases.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00368-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141973747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Analyzing three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix (3D-EEM) spectra through machine learning models has drawn increasing attention, whereas the reliability of these machine learning models remains unclear due to their “black box” nature. In this study, the convolutional neural network (CNN) for classifying numbers of fluorescent components in 3D-EEM spectra was interpreted by gradient-weighted class activation mapping (Grad-CAM), guided Grad-CAM, and structured attention graphs (SAGs). Results showed that the original CNN classifier with high classification accuracy may make a classification based on misleading attention to the non-fluorescence area in 3D-EEM spectra. By removing Rayleigh scatterings in 3D-EEM spectra and integrating convolutional block attention module (CBAM) in CNN classifiers, the correct attention of the trained CNN classifier with CBAM greatly increased from 17.6% to 57.2%. This work formulated strategies for improving CNN classifiers associated with environmental fields and would provide great help for water determination in both natural and artificial environments.
{"title":"Attention improvement for data-driven analyzing fluorescence excitation-emission matrix spectra via interpretable attention mechanism","authors":"Run-Ze Xu, Jia-Shun Cao, Jing-Yang Luo, Bing-Jie Ni, Fang Fang, Weijing Liu, Peifang Wang","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00367-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00367-w","url":null,"abstract":"Analyzing three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix (3D-EEM) spectra through machine learning models has drawn increasing attention, whereas the reliability of these machine learning models remains unclear due to their “black box” nature. In this study, the convolutional neural network (CNN) for classifying numbers of fluorescent components in 3D-EEM spectra was interpreted by gradient-weighted class activation mapping (Grad-CAM), guided Grad-CAM, and structured attention graphs (SAGs). Results showed that the original CNN classifier with high classification accuracy may make a classification based on misleading attention to the non-fluorescence area in 3D-EEM spectra. By removing Rayleigh scatterings in 3D-EEM spectra and integrating convolutional block attention module (CBAM) in CNN classifiers, the correct attention of the trained CNN classifier with CBAM greatly increased from 17.6% to 57.2%. This work formulated strategies for improving CNN classifiers associated with environmental fields and would provide great help for water determination in both natural and artificial environments.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00367-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141904669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-02DOI: 10.1038/s41545-024-00355-0
Anoop Jain, Caleb Harrison, Akhil Kumar, Rockli Kim, S. V. Subramanian
The proportion of Indian households with access to a toilet has grown considerably over the past decade. Many of these toilets rely on on-site containment, either in the form of a septic tank or soak pit. If the waste from these containers is not removed using some type of mechanized method, it can overflow into drains before flowing into treatment facilities or being discharged into water bodies. Therefore, drains are a critical part of the sanitation chain. What remains unknown, however, is what types of drains are available to households in India. Understanding this is critical given that people are at a greater risk of ingesting contaminated water and making dermal contact with pathogens if waste flows in open drains. For the first time, India’s National Family Health Survey from 2019–2021 contains data on the type of drainage available to households. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to estimate the prevalence of households relying on no drainage, open drainage, drains to soak pits, and closed drainage. We also estimate these prevalence values for each of India’s 720 districts and by urban/rural communities to understand the geographic clustering of drainage types throughout India. Overall, we found that the most common drainage type was open drains (37.5% | 95% CI: 37.3–37.6), followed by closed drains (33.9% | 95% CI: 33.7–34.0). The household prevalence of open drainage was above 42% in more than half of India’s 720 districts. Similarly, the household prevalence of closed drainage was below 24% in more than half of India’s 720 districts. We also found that open drains were more common in rural communities, while closed drains were more common in urban communities. We also found a socioeconomic gradient in terms of drainage types, with those lower on the socioeconomic spectrum more likely to have open drains or no drainage. Our results underscore the need to both geographically and socioeconomically target interventions that ensure households have access to adequate drainage. Doing so is vital to remove contamination from the environment as a means of preventing morbidity.
{"title":"Examining geographic variation in the prevalence of household drainage types across India in 2019-2021","authors":"Anoop Jain, Caleb Harrison, Akhil Kumar, Rockli Kim, S. V. Subramanian","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00355-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00355-0","url":null,"abstract":"The proportion of Indian households with access to a toilet has grown considerably over the past decade. Many of these toilets rely on on-site containment, either in the form of a septic tank or soak pit. If the waste from these containers is not removed using some type of mechanized method, it can overflow into drains before flowing into treatment facilities or being discharged into water bodies. Therefore, drains are a critical part of the sanitation chain. What remains unknown, however, is what types of drains are available to households in India. Understanding this is critical given that people are at a greater risk of ingesting contaminated water and making dermal contact with pathogens if waste flows in open drains. For the first time, India’s National Family Health Survey from 2019–2021 contains data on the type of drainage available to households. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to estimate the prevalence of households relying on no drainage, open drainage, drains to soak pits, and closed drainage. We also estimate these prevalence values for each of India’s 720 districts and by urban/rural communities to understand the geographic clustering of drainage types throughout India. Overall, we found that the most common drainage type was open drains (37.5% | 95% CI: 37.3–37.6), followed by closed drains (33.9% | 95% CI: 33.7–34.0). The household prevalence of open drainage was above 42% in more than half of India’s 720 districts. Similarly, the household prevalence of closed drainage was below 24% in more than half of India’s 720 districts. We also found that open drains were more common in rural communities, while closed drains were more common in urban communities. We also found a socioeconomic gradient in terms of drainage types, with those lower on the socioeconomic spectrum more likely to have open drains or no drainage. Our results underscore the need to both geographically and socioeconomically target interventions that ensure households have access to adequate drainage. Doing so is vital to remove contamination from the environment as a means of preventing morbidity.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00355-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141877668","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-02DOI: 10.1038/s41545-024-00365-y
Inés Girón-Guzmán, Santiago Sánchez-Alberola, Enric Cuevas-Ferrando, Irene Falcó, Azahara Díaz-Reolid, Pablo Puchades-Colera, Sandra Ballesteros, Alba Pérez-Cataluña, José María Coll, Eugenia Núñez, María José Fabra, Amparo López-Rubio, Gloria Sánchez
This year-long research analyzed emerging risks in influent, effluent wastewaters and biosolids from six wastewater treatment plants in Spain’s Valencian Region. Specifically, it focused on human enteric and respiratory viruses, bacterial and viral faecal contamination indicators, extended-spectrum beta-lactamases-producing Escherichia coli, and antibiotic-resistance genes. Additionally, particles and microplastics in biosolid and wastewater samples were assessed. Human enteric viruses were prevalent in influent wastewater, with limited post-treatment reduction. Wastewater treatment effectively eliminated respiratory viruses, except for low levels of SARS-CoV-2 in effluent and biosolid samples, suggesting minimal public health risk. Antibiotic resistance genes and microplastics were persistently found in effluent and biosolids, thus indicating treatment inefficiencies and potential environmental dissemination. This multifaced research sheds light on diverse contaminants present after water reclamation, emphasizing the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health in wastewater management. It underscores the need for a One Health approach to address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
{"title":"Longitudinal study on the multifactorial public health risks associated with sewage reclamation","authors":"Inés Girón-Guzmán, Santiago Sánchez-Alberola, Enric Cuevas-Ferrando, Irene Falcó, Azahara Díaz-Reolid, Pablo Puchades-Colera, Sandra Ballesteros, Alba Pérez-Cataluña, José María Coll, Eugenia Núñez, María José Fabra, Amparo López-Rubio, Gloria Sánchez","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00365-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00365-y","url":null,"abstract":"This year-long research analyzed emerging risks in influent, effluent wastewaters and biosolids from six wastewater treatment plants in Spain’s Valencian Region. Specifically, it focused on human enteric and respiratory viruses, bacterial and viral faecal contamination indicators, extended-spectrum beta-lactamases-producing Escherichia coli, and antibiotic-resistance genes. Additionally, particles and microplastics in biosolid and wastewater samples were assessed. Human enteric viruses were prevalent in influent wastewater, with limited post-treatment reduction. Wastewater treatment effectively eliminated respiratory viruses, except for low levels of SARS-CoV-2 in effluent and biosolid samples, suggesting minimal public health risk. Antibiotic resistance genes and microplastics were persistently found in effluent and biosolids, thus indicating treatment inefficiencies and potential environmental dissemination. This multifaced research sheds light on diverse contaminants present after water reclamation, emphasizing the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health in wastewater management. It underscores the need for a One Health approach to address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00365-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141880137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-07-26DOI: 10.1038/s41545-024-00351-4
Yang Yu, Lianyu Liu, Yiqiao Xie, Wei Huang, Hai Liu, Xiaotu Liu, Da Chen
Increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) constitutes an emerging water safety issue globally. However, the effectiveness of current water treatment techniques in the control of ARGs dissemination remains controversial. Here, we develop a dual-zone strategy based on piezoelectric membrane filtration to efficiently eliminate waterborne antibiotic resistance. Following complete ARB inactivation and effective ARGs reduction in the retentate near the membrane surface (zone 1), a subsequent trans-membrane process (zone 2) further promotes ARGs elimination in the permeate, due to boosted interactions between ARGs and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated from piezoelectric peroxymonosulfate activation and minimized ROS competition from inactivated ARB within piezocatalytic channels. The abundance of ARGs was largely reduced to ~1.0 × 103 copies·mL−1 in the permeate from ~5.0 × 106 copies·mL−1 in the feed solution. The singlet oxygen (1O2) is demonstrated to be primarily responsible for ARB inactivation, while 1O2, hydroxyl radical (•OH), sulfate radical (SO4·−) and superoxide radical (·O2−) can all participate in ARGs degradation. Our work demonstrates that the piezoelectric membrane-based dual-zone strategy has great potential to control the risk of ARGs dissemination.
{"title":"Trans-membrane piezoelectric activation of peroxymonosulfate for effective control of waterborne antibiotic resistance dissemination","authors":"Yang Yu, Lianyu Liu, Yiqiao Xie, Wei Huang, Hai Liu, Xiaotu Liu, Da Chen","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00351-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00351-4","url":null,"abstract":"Increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) constitutes an emerging water safety issue globally. However, the effectiveness of current water treatment techniques in the control of ARGs dissemination remains controversial. Here, we develop a dual-zone strategy based on piezoelectric membrane filtration to efficiently eliminate waterborne antibiotic resistance. Following complete ARB inactivation and effective ARGs reduction in the retentate near the membrane surface (zone 1), a subsequent trans-membrane process (zone 2) further promotes ARGs elimination in the permeate, due to boosted interactions between ARGs and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated from piezoelectric peroxymonosulfate activation and minimized ROS competition from inactivated ARB within piezocatalytic channels. The abundance of ARGs was largely reduced to ~1.0 × 103 copies·mL−1 in the permeate from ~5.0 × 106 copies·mL−1 in the feed solution. The singlet oxygen (1O2) is demonstrated to be primarily responsible for ARB inactivation, while 1O2, hydroxyl radical (•OH), sulfate radical (SO4·−) and superoxide radical (·O2−) can all participate in ARGs degradation. Our work demonstrates that the piezoelectric membrane-based dual-zone strategy has great potential to control the risk of ARGs dissemination.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00351-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141768506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-07-25DOI: 10.1038/s41545-024-00362-1
Hilal Ahmad, Abdul Waheed, Fahad Ayesh Alharthi, Christopher Michael Fellows, Umair Baig, Isam H. Aljundi
The scarcity of freshwater resources, driven by rapid population growth and industrialization, underscores the urgent need for advanced desalination technologies. This research aims to meet this critical demand by enhancing the performance of polyamide membranes through innovative chemical tuning of the active layer. By strategically using Boc-protected ethylenediamine (EDA), we can precisely control the membrane’s surface properties. One amino group in EDA is protected with a Boc group, allowing the other to participate in the interfacial polymerization (IP) reaction with meta-phenylenediamine (MPD) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC). This inclusion of Boc-protected EDA enables in situ tuning of the active layer chemistry during polymerization. Subsequent removal of the Boc protection generates hydrophilic ammonium groups on the membrane surface, enhancing its desalination capabilities. As a result, three distinct membranes were fabricated and thoroughly characterized: MPD-TMC (control), MPD-TMC-EDA-Boc, and MPD-TMC-EDA-Deboc. At 20 bar and 2000 ppm NaCl feed, the MPD-TMC-EDA-Deboc membrane demonstrated superior desalination performance with a salt rejection of 98 ± 0.5% and a permeate flux of 25 L m−2 h−1; an increase of 25% compared to the control membrane. For the seawater nanofiltration (NF) permeate with a TDS of 33,700 ppm, a salt rejection of 97% and a permeate flux of 23 L m−2 h−1 was recorded at 20 bar. The MPD-TMC-EDA-Deboc membrane showed enhanced antifouling performance (95 ± 1% flux recovery) compared to the control MPD-TMC membrane with 93 ± 1% flux recovery. The Boc-protection/deprotection strategy demonstrated the high potential of this approach to significantly enhance the performance of polyamide membranes for desalination applications.
{"title":"Tuning polyamide membrane chemistry for enhanced desalination using Boc-protected ethylenediamine and its in situ Boc-deprotection","authors":"Hilal Ahmad, Abdul Waheed, Fahad Ayesh Alharthi, Christopher Michael Fellows, Umair Baig, Isam H. Aljundi","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00362-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00362-1","url":null,"abstract":"The scarcity of freshwater resources, driven by rapid population growth and industrialization, underscores the urgent need for advanced desalination technologies. This research aims to meet this critical demand by enhancing the performance of polyamide membranes through innovative chemical tuning of the active layer. By strategically using Boc-protected ethylenediamine (EDA), we can precisely control the membrane’s surface properties. One amino group in EDA is protected with a Boc group, allowing the other to participate in the interfacial polymerization (IP) reaction with meta-phenylenediamine (MPD) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC). This inclusion of Boc-protected EDA enables in situ tuning of the active layer chemistry during polymerization. Subsequent removal of the Boc protection generates hydrophilic ammonium groups on the membrane surface, enhancing its desalination capabilities. As a result, three distinct membranes were fabricated and thoroughly characterized: MPD-TMC (control), MPD-TMC-EDA-Boc, and MPD-TMC-EDA-Deboc. At 20 bar and 2000 ppm NaCl feed, the MPD-TMC-EDA-Deboc membrane demonstrated superior desalination performance with a salt rejection of 98 ± 0.5% and a permeate flux of 25 L m−2 h−1; an increase of 25% compared to the control membrane. For the seawater nanofiltration (NF) permeate with a TDS of 33,700 ppm, a salt rejection of 97% and a permeate flux of 23 L m−2 h−1 was recorded at 20 bar. The MPD-TMC-EDA-Deboc membrane showed enhanced antifouling performance (95 ± 1% flux recovery) compared to the control MPD-TMC membrane with 93 ± 1% flux recovery. The Boc-protection/deprotection strategy demonstrated the high potential of this approach to significantly enhance the performance of polyamide membranes for desalination applications.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00362-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141764110","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-07-23DOI: 10.1038/s41545-024-00357-y
Alicja Dabrowska, George R. Lewis, Minaleshewa Atlabachew, Susannah J. Salter, Cassi Henderson, Chang Ji, Annike Ehlers, Julian Stirling, Sophie Mower, Lara Allen, Elizabeth Lay, Kara Stuart, Lisa Appavou, Richard Bowman, Tianheng Zhao, Nalin Patel, Alexander Patto, Mark A. Holmes, Jeremy J. Baumberg, Sammy Mahdi
Increasing access to water quality tests in low-income communities is a crucial strategy toward achieving global water equality. Recent studies in the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector underscore the importance of addressing practical concerns in water testing, such as robustness and results communication. In response, we present the WaterScope testing kit; an open-source, validated platform for drinking water quality assessment. It modernises the testing process with the inclusion of a unique cartridge/slider mechanism, machine-learning-enhanced classification and full digitalisation of results. WaterScope’s equivalency to conventional methods for quantifying E. coli is established through extensive validation experiments in both laboratory and field environments. This versatile platform provides potential to expand its applications to test other bacteria, perform colorimetric assays, and analyse clinical samples such as blood/urine samples. We anticipate that the system’s ease-of-use, portability, affordability, robustness, and digital nature will accelerate progress toward global water equality.
{"title":"Expanding access to water quality monitoring with the open-source WaterScope testing platform","authors":"Alicja Dabrowska, George R. Lewis, Minaleshewa Atlabachew, Susannah J. Salter, Cassi Henderson, Chang Ji, Annike Ehlers, Julian Stirling, Sophie Mower, Lara Allen, Elizabeth Lay, Kara Stuart, Lisa Appavou, Richard Bowman, Tianheng Zhao, Nalin Patel, Alexander Patto, Mark A. Holmes, Jeremy J. Baumberg, Sammy Mahdi","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00357-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00357-y","url":null,"abstract":"Increasing access to water quality tests in low-income communities is a crucial strategy toward achieving global water equality. Recent studies in the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector underscore the importance of addressing practical concerns in water testing, such as robustness and results communication. In response, we present the WaterScope testing kit; an open-source, validated platform for drinking water quality assessment. It modernises the testing process with the inclusion of a unique cartridge/slider mechanism, machine-learning-enhanced classification and full digitalisation of results. WaterScope’s equivalency to conventional methods for quantifying E. coli is established through extensive validation experiments in both laboratory and field environments. This versatile platform provides potential to expand its applications to test other bacteria, perform colorimetric assays, and analyse clinical samples such as blood/urine samples. We anticipate that the system’s ease-of-use, portability, affordability, robustness, and digital nature will accelerate progress toward global water equality.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00357-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141755263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-07-23DOI: 10.1038/s41545-024-00364-z
Pay Drechsel, James Bartram, Manzoor Qadir, Kate O. Medlicott
Unsafe water reuse in the informal irrigation sector dominates in the Global South and requires more attention to protect food safety and public health. Promoting formal wastewater use in conjunction with (usually constrained) investment in treatment capacities is not sufficient in LMIC. New approaches and indicators are needed across the formal and informal reuse sectors to increase food safety and monitor progress on safe reuse. Current reuse guidelines need to be updated with greater attention to policy, regulations, investments, and behavior change for a higher implementation potential.
{"title":"The challenge of supporting and monitoring safe wastewater use in agriculture in LMIC","authors":"Pay Drechsel, James Bartram, Manzoor Qadir, Kate O. Medlicott","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00364-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00364-z","url":null,"abstract":"Unsafe water reuse in the informal irrigation sector dominates in the Global South and requires more attention to protect food safety and public health. Promoting formal wastewater use in conjunction with (usually constrained) investment in treatment capacities is not sufficient in LMIC. New approaches and indicators are needed across the formal and informal reuse sectors to increase food safety and monitor progress on safe reuse. Current reuse guidelines need to be updated with greater attention to policy, regulations, investments, and behavior change for a higher implementation potential.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00364-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141755261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-07-23DOI: 10.1038/s41545-024-00363-0
Joo-Youn Nam, Hyunji Eom, Uijeong Han, Eunjin Jwa, Hyojeon Kim, SeungYeob Han, Seoktae Kang, Si-Kyung Cho
In this study, waste nutrient solution (WNS) was used as a catholyte in a bioelectrochemical cell to directly produce hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), after which the H2O2- containing WNS was integrated with the downstream UV oxidation process to meet quality standards for reuse. The generated current in the bioelectrochemical cell was successfully utilized at the cathode to produce H2O2 in WNS using a two-electron oxygen reduction reaction with different reaction times. The cathodic reaction time with the highest H2O2 production (504 ± 5.2 mg l−1) was 48 h, followed by that obtained from 24 h (368 ± 4.1 mg l−1), 12 h (158.8 ± 2.4 mg l−1), and 6 h (121.1 ± 4.1 mg l−1) reaction times. During H2O2 generation, calcium, magnesium, and phosphate in the WNS were recovered in the form of precipitates under alkaline conditions. The H2O2-containing WNS was further treated with different UV doses. After UV/H2O2 treatment, excitation-emission matrix and molecular weight distribution analyses demonstrated that aromatic compounds were reduced. Moreover, the gene expressions of sul1 (up to 95.65%), tetG (up to 93.88%), and aadA (up to 95.32%) were clearly downregulated compared with those of a control sample. Finally, a high disinfection efficiency was achieved with higher UV doses, resulting in successful seed germination. Thus, our results indicate that the developed method can be a promising process for reusing WNS in hydroponic systems.
{"title":"Unravelling the UV/H2O2 process using bioelectrochemically synthesized H2O2 to reuse waste nutrient solution","authors":"Joo-Youn Nam, Hyunji Eom, Uijeong Han, Eunjin Jwa, Hyojeon Kim, SeungYeob Han, Seoktae Kang, Si-Kyung Cho","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00363-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00363-0","url":null,"abstract":"In this study, waste nutrient solution (WNS) was used as a catholyte in a bioelectrochemical cell to directly produce hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), after which the H2O2- containing WNS was integrated with the downstream UV oxidation process to meet quality standards for reuse. The generated current in the bioelectrochemical cell was successfully utilized at the cathode to produce H2O2 in WNS using a two-electron oxygen reduction reaction with different reaction times. The cathodic reaction time with the highest H2O2 production (504 ± 5.2 mg l−1) was 48 h, followed by that obtained from 24 h (368 ± 4.1 mg l−1), 12 h (158.8 ± 2.4 mg l−1), and 6 h (121.1 ± 4.1 mg l−1) reaction times. During H2O2 generation, calcium, magnesium, and phosphate in the WNS were recovered in the form of precipitates under alkaline conditions. The H2O2-containing WNS was further treated with different UV doses. After UV/H2O2 treatment, excitation-emission matrix and molecular weight distribution analyses demonstrated that aromatic compounds were reduced. Moreover, the gene expressions of sul1 (up to 95.65%), tetG (up to 93.88%), and aadA (up to 95.32%) were clearly downregulated compared with those of a control sample. Finally, a high disinfection efficiency was achieved with higher UV doses, resulting in successful seed germination. Thus, our results indicate that the developed method can be a promising process for reusing WNS in hydroponic systems.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00363-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141755262","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-07-16DOI: 10.1038/s41545-024-00335-4
Benedict Winchester, Gan Huang, Hamish Beath, Philip Sandwell, Jiajun Cen, Jenny Nelson, Christos N. Markides
We compare the performance of photovoltaic (PV), flat-plate and evacuated-tube solar-thermal (ST), and hybrid photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T) collectors to meet the energy demands of multi-effect distillation (MED) desalination plants across four locations. We consider three scales: 1700 m3day−1, 120 m3day−1 and 3 m3day−1. We find a strong dependence of the capacity and configuration of the solar collectors on both the cost of sourcing electricity from the grid and the specific collector employed. We find specific costs as low as 7.8, 3.4 and 3.7 USDm−3 for the three plant capacities. We find that solar-driven systems optimised for the lowest specific cost result in CO2eq emissions equal to, or higher than, those from grid-driven reverse osmosis (RO) and in line with PV-RO. This highlights the need to consider the environmental footprint of these systems to ensure that desalination is in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 6.
{"title":"Lifetime optimisation of integrated thermally and electrically driven solar desalination plants","authors":"Benedict Winchester, Gan Huang, Hamish Beath, Philip Sandwell, Jiajun Cen, Jenny Nelson, Christos N. Markides","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00335-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00335-4","url":null,"abstract":"We compare the performance of photovoltaic (PV), flat-plate and evacuated-tube solar-thermal (ST), and hybrid photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T) collectors to meet the energy demands of multi-effect distillation (MED) desalination plants across four locations. We consider three scales: 1700 m3day−1, 120 m3day−1 and 3 m3day−1. We find a strong dependence of the capacity and configuration of the solar collectors on both the cost of sourcing electricity from the grid and the specific collector employed. We find specific costs as low as 7.8, 3.4 and 3.7 USDm−3 for the three plant capacities. We find that solar-driven systems optimised for the lowest specific cost result in CO2eq emissions equal to, or higher than, those from grid-driven reverse osmosis (RO) and in line with PV-RO. This highlights the need to consider the environmental footprint of these systems to ensure that desalination is in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 6.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00335-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141625033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：