Managing emerging pathogen risks in recycled water

The COVID-19 pandemic raised the public profile of wastewater-based infectious disease monitoring. General media coverage about wastewater detection of SARS-CoV-2 (the COVID-19 coronavirus) increased community awareness of the potential use of wastewater for the detection and surveillance of emerging diseases and also heightened recognition of the potential for wastewater to harbour and convey a variety of pathogens. This has also generated questions about the potential public health impacts of emerging pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2 and mpox, in sewage and recycled water. To ensure water security in an era of climate change, water recycling is increasingly important in Australia and other water-stressed nations and managing disease risks in integrated water management is thus of critical importance. This paper demonstrates the existing risk management provisions for recycled water and explores potential issues posed by novel and emerging pathogens. First, a synopsis of some key emerging and re-emerging human pathogens is presented and the risks associated with these pathogens in the context of recycled water provision is considered. Then, an overview of the engineered treatment systems and regulatory framework used to manage these emerging risks in Australia is presented, together with a discusion of how emerging pathogen risks can be managed to ensure safe recycled water supply now and into the future.

Managing Building Water Disruptions in a Post-COVID World: Water Quality and Safety Risk Assessment Tool for Academic Institutions and School Settings

Fluctuating building occupancy during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to poor water quality and safety conditions in building water distribution systems (BWDSs). Natural disasters, man-made events, or academic institutional calendars (i.e., semesters or holiday breaks) can disrupt building occupant water usage, which typically increases water age within a BWDS. High water age, in turn, is known to propagate poor water quality and safety conditions, which potentially exposes building occupants to waterborne pathogens (e.g., Legionella) associated with respiratory disease or hazardous chemicals (e.g., lead). Other influencing factors are green building design and municipal water supply changes. Regardless of the cause, an increasing number of water management policies require building owners to improve building water management practices. The present study developed a Water Quality and Safety Risk Assessment (WQSRA) tool to address gaps in building water management for academic institutions and school settings. The tool is intended to assist with future implementation of water management programs as the result of pending policies for the built environment. The WQSRA was modeled after water management practices created for controlling water contaminants in healthcare facilities. Yet, a novel WQSRA tool was adapted specifically for educational settings to allow building owners to evaluate risk from water hazards to determine an appropriate level of risk mitigation measures for implementation. An exemplar WQSRA tool is presented for safety, facility, industrial hygiene, and allied professionals to address current gaps in building water management programs. Academic institutions and school settings should examine the WQSRA tool and formulate an organization-specific policy to determine implementation before, during, and after building water-disruptive events associated with natural or man-made disasters.

Water security in sub-Saharan Africa: understanding the status of sustainable development goal 6

The world is nearing the 2030 target-year by which sustainable development goals (SDGs) should be achieved. While other developing regions seem to be making progress toward achieving SDG6, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is lagging behind significantly, particularly with regard to access to water supply and sanitation (WSS). As a result, most studies evaluating progress toward the achievement of water security SDGs in SSA have focused on WSS while the rest of the SDG6 targets have received scant attention, often using fragmented or incomplete evidence. Here, we fill this knowledge gap by conducting a comprehensive assessment of the status of SDG6 in all 48 countries in SSA. We provide a review of the progress made, the challenges affecting each SDG6 target and examine the different political, socioeconomic, and environmental factors with potential to undermine the achievement of SDG6 in the region. Our review clearly demonstrates that it is likely that most countries may not achieve water security by 2030. The complex nature of the challenges and factors impeding the achievement of water security in SSA outlined here suggests that a holistic intervention involving local, national, and international stakeholders and the research community is urgently needed to address SDG6 if the 2030 target date is to be met. Approaches to enhance water security may equally consider: (a) underpinning peace and security in SSA and (b) the commitment of more financial resources by donors particularly during this period of COVID-19 pandemic.

Access to water and the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: opportunities and threats in a post-pandemic era for sub-Saharan Africa

The emergence of SARs-Cov-2 has severely impacted on the progress made so far on the sustainable development goals in SSA. The current ineffective water and healthcare sectors in many African countries could serve as a deterrent to an impending crisis. This mini review aims to highlight the opportunities and threats to the water and healthcare sector in a post pandemic era. Recent studies indicate that the virus have been found in water bodies including wastewater and sewage and this could serve as a potential medium of mutation of the virus. In addition, SSA have poor waste management implementation and sanitation especially within rural and densely populated areas. This coupled with lack of adequate supply of potable water can see SSA fall back in achieving the SDGs. The struggle against climate change and recently Covid-19 will devastate socio-economic development of many countries within the SSA region. Climate change has impacted on water accessibility and quality and Covid-19 requires adequate water supply to reduce human-to-human transmission. This will see a severe stress on already existing stresses in the water and health sectors which can eventually led to a system collapse. Urgent attention is therefore required through the design and implementation of programs aimed at building resilience to climate impacts and prepare for future pandemics.

Emerging investigator series: moving beyond resilience by considering antifragility in potable water systems

It is inherently difficult to plan water systems for a future that is non-predictive. This paper introduces a novel perspective for the design and operation of potable water systems under increasing water quality volatility (e.g., a relatively rapid and unpredicted deviation from baseline water quality). Increased water quality volatility and deep uncertainty stress water systems, confound design decisions, and increase the risk of decreased water system performance. Recent emphasis on resilience in drinking water treatment has partly addressed this issue, but still establishes an adversarial relationship with change. An antifragile system benefits from volatile change. By incorporating antifragility, water systems may move beyond resilience and improve performance with extreme events and other changes, rather than survive, or fail and quickly recover. Using examples of algal blooms, wildfires, and the COVID-19 pandemic, this work illustrates fragility, resilience, and antifragility within physicochemical process design including clarification, adsorption and disinfection. Methods for increasing antifragility, both individual process options and new system design tools, are discussed. Novel physicochemical processes with antifragile characteristics include ferrate preoxidation and magnetic iron (nano)particles. New design tools that allow for systematic evaluation of antifragile opportunities include artificial neural networks and virtual jar or pilot "stress testing". Incorporating antifragile characteristics represents a trade-off with capital and/or operating cost. We present a real options analysis approach to considering costs in the context of antifragile design decisions. Adopting this antifragile perspective will help ensure water system improved performance during extreme events and a general increase in volatility.

A review of South African sugarcane production the 2020/21 season

This paper characterises South African sugarcane production for the 2020/21 milling season from an agricultural perspective, in order to evaluate recent production strategies, and to identify priorities for improved efficiencies. The industry produced 18.22 million tons of cane, harvested from an estimated 254 028 ha (71.73 t/ha). The cane to sugar ratio was 8.89, and sugar production decreased from the 2019/20 season by 7%, to 2.28 million tons. After closing early in 2019/20, the Darnall Mill (along with Umzimkulu) remained closed in 2020/21, resulting in cane oversupply at some mills and considerable carryover tonnages. Cane quality improved in northern irrigated areas. Decreasing cane quality in the Noodsberg and UCL mill supply areas warrants investigation. Rainfall was generally below-average, with dry 2019 and 2020 winters;however, relief was offered by good spring/summer rains. Irrigation water supplies from the Bivane Dam and the Umhlatuze Catchment were significantly improved. The 2020 winter was particularly cold, and the Midlands cane was affected by frost. Eldana incidence decreased overall from the previous season, but flourished in carryover cane in the South Coast and Amatikulu regions. Smut prevalence was slightly higher than in 2019, and efforts to reduce these levels remain a priority in the northern parts of the industry, particularly in Pongola. A 19% increase in the Recoverable Value (RV) price saw a return to profitability for large- and small-scale growers alike. The negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on local sugarcane producers were minimal, and the increase in the RV price is partly attributed to COVID. The Sugar Industry Value Chain Master Plan also contributed to the increase in the RV price, by securing local sales and more effectively discouraging imports.

Neglected tropical diseases: impact of COVID-19 and WHO's response - 2021 update

This article is a 2021 update on the WHO report on the impact of COVID-19 on neglected tropical diseases (NTD) and the response appropriated by the WHO. In January 2021, and after almost 2 years of wide-ranging consultations, WHO launched the new NTD roadmap for 2021-2030 that provides a framework and actions to drive progress towards a world free of NTDs, contributing during this decade to the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through: fundamental shifts that put countries, communities and people at the centre of the agenda;supportive cross-sectoral actions, such as health, education, nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene and;sustaining and accelerating progress towards the 2030 goals. Furthermore, the roadmap provides opportunities to evaluate, assess, and adjust programmatic actions, as and when needed, over the next decade by setting clear targets and milestones. Another distinct feature of this roadmap is to drive greater ownership by national and local governments, including communities. The overarching 2030 global targets are to: (1) reduce by 90% the number of people requiring interventions against NTDs;(2) have at least 100 countries having eliminated at least one NTD;(3) eradicate 2 diseases (dracunculiasis and yaws) and;(4) reduce by 75% the DALYs related to NTDs. The roadmap will enable future measuring of progress towards eradication, elimination and control of the 20 NTDs by tracking disease-specific targets. Additionally, the roadmap includes 10 cross-cutting targets relevant to progress in the areas of integration, multisectoral coordination, universal health coverage, and country ownership. Examples include a reduction by more than 75% in the number of deaths from vector-borne NTDs such as dengue and leishmaniasis;100% access to basic water supply, sanitation, and hygiene in areas endemic for NTDs;75% integrated treatment coverage index for preventive chemotherapy;90% countries including NTDs in their package of essential services, and 90% countries collecting and reporting NTD data disaggregated by gender.

Optimizing a Supply Chain Network Using Metaheuristic for Pre and Post Pandemic Scenario

During the pandemic, the supply chains got highly disrupted and faced a new challenge to sustain service. We have proposed a mathematical model for managing supply chains in a post pandemic situation, also coined as 'new normal'. We are trying to design a model and simulate different scenarios while optimizing the network to thrive and fulfill customer demand. The model has been supported with scenario analysis and illustrative examples a packaged drinking water supply chain. The objective is to minimize the supply chain operating cost with respect to the changes in capacity due to pandemic. The fill-rate has also been recorded as a performance matrix for the chain. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) has been used to optimize the objective function. This research will help supply chain practitioners and researchers to design networks and carry out study in risk management for pandemic or other similar outbreaks situations. © 2021 IEEE.

Rethinking the agricultural development model in Morocco in the post COVID-19 era. (Agriculture et syst..mes alimentaires face .. la Covid-19.) [French]

The agricultural sector is strategic for the Moroccan economy, still accounting for around 14% of the Gross Domestic Product and employing 40% of the active population. With the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been literally shaken up, with growing uncertainties with regard to market opportunities and physical distancing which has amplified work constraints. However, citizens have rapidly acknowledged the importance of agriculture, as it ensured a regular supply of food during the lockdown at relatively affordable prices. The pandemic, which has emerged in a particularly dry year, has provided an opportunity to revise the constraints facing the agricultural sector, particularly water scarcity and limited work remuneration. It has also shown to consumers the significant share of imported staple food. In fact, the food trade balance remains in deficit despite the exports of high value commodities, which are emphasized by the public authorities. Moreover, recent studies have shown that these exports rely on increasing amounts of groundwater uptakes. This has happened despite the significant subsidies awarded to farmers to convert gravity irrigation to drip irrigation systems. On-farm investigations have demonstrated that subsidies mainly resulted in an expansion of the area with cash crops needing significant amounts of water. This situation is the opposite of the goal sought by the agricultural policy, i.e. a higher economic water productivity. It is therefore crucial to recognize that the post Covid-19 agriculture should be different. Indeed, there is a need for a paradigm shift where rain-fed agriculture has to get at the top of the political agenda, with more attention to food sovereignty. This has to encompass wide topics, such as environment preservation, rural development and sustainable food systems, to ensure social inclusiveness, and guarantee better wages that can increase the attractiveness of work within farming activities and reduce rural exodus.

South Africa is to move towards a more diversified water resource mix.

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT : South Africa's Water Research Commission - the country's dedicated national Water and Sanitation Innovation, Research and Development Agency - aims to be a water knowledge hub active across the innovation value chain, through research and development for South Africa, Africa and the world. The water Research Commission (WRC) was founded in 1971 to generate and promote water research in South Africa, already recognising water would be one of the most limiting factors in the country in the 21st century. As water quality and availability issues become more acute, the WRC contributes to the development of the capacity of the water sector. Dhesigen Naidoo, a thought leader and part of the global pioneering group conceptualising and implementing the New Sanitation Economy, has been leading the WRC for 10 years. A former senior civil servant with the South African national government, he is the President of the global NGO Human Right 2 Water and a founding member of the Water Policy Group. He is also a Councillor on South Africa's National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) and an inaugural member of South Africa's Presidential Climate Change Commission. In this interview we hear the views of this leader, scientist and activist for positive social change on the present and future of water research and practice in South Africa

Alarming new FAO report shows decades of development efforts undermined

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT : The stark findings of a new report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) show that COVID-19 has set back progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) enshrined in the UN's Agenda 2030, undermining decades of development efforts. "It's an alarming picture, in which progress on many SDG targets has been reversed, with a significant impact on all aspects of sustainable development and making the achievement of the 2030 Agenda even more challenging," said FAO Chief Statistician, Pietro Gennari. The analysis, "Tracking progress on food and agriculture-related SDG indicators 2021" focuses on eight of the SDGs (1, 2, 5, 6, 10, 12, 14 and 15), which were adopted at a UN Summit in New York in 2015. It's FAO's third assessment of its kind, based on the latest data and estimates available