CEE Seminar -From Pathogen-centric to Microbiome-Inclusive Approaches to Enhance Water Safety

Abstract:
Most microbes in drinking water do not pose a human health risk, but the presence of pathogenic microbes can have severe public health implications. Hence, the current paradigm for drinking water quality management includes technologies (1) to inactivate, starve, or remove microorganisms during treatment and minimize growth during water distribution and (2) source-to-tap monitoring focused on harmful and pathogenic microorganisms. Yet, every liter of drinking water can contain tens of millions of diverse microorganisms that form a complex and dynamic drinking water microbiome. This talk will present hypotheses based on field data on potential ecological and physiological mechanisms underpinning the persistence and proliferation of the drinking water microbiome. These insights necessitate the development of novel approaches for holistic monitoring and management of the drinking water microbiome.This talk will also highlight ongoing work on the development of low-cost optical- and DNA sequencing-based methods for real-time and quantitative characterization of microbial communities in drinking water systems.
Bio:
Dr Ameet Pinto is an Environmental Engineer and Carlton S Wilder Associate Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Ameet is a Chemical Engineer from the Institute of Chemical Technology (University of Mumbai) with post-graduate degrees in Environmental Engineering from the University of Alaska (2005) and Virginia Tech, USA (2009). Their research has received support and recognition through prestigious grants and awards like EPSRC’s Bright IDEAS Award in 2015 in the UK, the NSF CAREER and ISME/IWA Rising Star Awards in 2018, Paul L Busch Award for Innovation in Applied Water Quality Research in 2019, and the IWA MEWE Mid-Career Award in 2023. They were inducted as a Fellow of the International Water Association in 2024. Their research focuses on the development and application of state-of-the-art molecular and modelling tools to monitor and manage the microbiology of drinking water systems to improve the sustainability of treatment processes and enhance the safety and security of drinking water.