WATCH: An Integrated Platform for Wastewater Surveillance towards One Health Intelligence in Qatar

This project will establish a multimodal framework for the analysis and monitoring of wastewater, sewage and treated sewage effluent for the concurrent occurrence and interaction of emerging contaminants (PFAS, microplastics and pharmaceuticals) and emerging pathogens by utilizing state-of-the-art technology platforms for the measurement of emerging contaminants (ECs) and metagenomics. Most standard wastewater treatment plants fail to completely remove ECs, allowing these to accumulate in water and soil. Further, PFAS and microplastics resist natural degradation leading to bioaccumulation across the food chain and ultimately finding their way into human body. Similarly, antibiotics and hormones enter water via human excretion and foster antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, an integrated framework for the concurrent monitoring of ECs and pathogens is vital for the detection, transport and fate of emerging contaminants, and their interactions with microbial community for better understanding of the development of AMR. This project will serve as a concrete step towards “One Health” approach in Qatar for a holistic measurement of ECs and emerging pathogens that in turn determine the health of ecosystem, animals and human population. By using multimodal technological innovations for near real-time monitoring in close collaboration with multiple stakeholders, this project will help in establishing baseline data, fate, transport and accumulation of ECs in water, soil and other receiving environments, therefore, providing crucial information for better treatment and remediation strategies. At the same time, multipronged data analysis strategies will be used to identify the emergence of antimicrobial resistance and zoonotic threats for timely interventions.

Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU)