MICROBIAL CONTAMINATION OF WATER ACTION TEAM PROGRESS REPORT Date: October 1, 2007 Team Leaders: Keya Sen, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, Office of Water. Sam Hayes, National Risk Management Research Laboratories, ORD Current Team Members: EPA: Nicole Brinkman, Bob Fuerst National Exposure Research Laboratories, ORD; , James Sinclair and Sandhya Parshionikar, Technical Support Center, OGWDW, Office of Water; Angela Page and Barbara Klieorth, NCER, ORD. American Water Works Research Foundation. Misha Hasan,; University of Arizona. AR. Marilyn Marshall, Advanced Concepts and Technologies International, Waco, Tx. Wyndi Klement,. Environmental Problem: Although current regulations have significantly decreased waterborne disease outbreaks, pathogens continue to contaminate drinking water supplies causing public health concerns. The CDC estimates that pathogen infected drinking water results in approximately one million new cases of illness and one thousand deaths annually. EPA currently regulates two indicators of microbiological drinking water quality: total coliform and turbidity. Challenges of using indicator organisms for monitoring water quality are: (1) Poor correlation between indicators and the presences of pathogens (because there is a great diversity of microbial pathogens); and (2) Long delay in obtaining results thereby causing a time lag between the occurrence of the contamination event and its detection to be able to safe guard consumer health. Therefore, "rapid" or "near real-time" quantitative analytical methods are needed that can specifically detect a broad array of microorganisms. Priority Project. Application of molecular technologies to source and potable water monitoring Technology Challenge: 1. Development of Molecular Detection Technology for Monitoring Water Molecular detection technologies have the potential to detect multiple pathogens in a single analysis, to make highly specific identifications, and to detect very low numbers of target organisms rapidly. Although a considerable amount of work has been done to develop rapid, sensitive, and quantitative molecular methods, several challenges remain that must be resolved before EPA will approve these methods under existing or new regulations. For example, one important challenge is the development of sample concentration methods, prior to water analysis, that reliably provide the needed ------- sensitivity for detecting the low number of pathogens that may be present in water samples. 2. Comparison of Molecular Detection Technologies to Existing Methods Existing methods are based on the detection of culturable indicator organisms. Results from molecular methods must be correlated to the existing methods for detection of viable organisms. Additionally, molecular methods must have equal or greater detection sensitivity to indicator bacteria methods (1 per 100 mL). Molecular methods must also be able to detect specific pathogens, a characteristic which existing indicator methods lack, including non-culturable pathogens. 3. Acceptance of Molecular Methods The water industry has used existing indicator bacteria methods for approximately 100 years. To gain acceptance, molecular methods must satisfactorily demonstrate that they provide useful data on pathogens that have the same or greater predictive value as methods for indicator organisms. The mission of the action team will be to (1) identify innovative technologies that demonstrate the greatest potential for environmental application (2) identify research gaps in adapting molecular technologies for consideration by ORD's Research Program, including the STAR and SBIR Extramural Programs, and AWWARF (3) provide technical support for the expansion of methods and (4) quantify economic and environmental benefits for the use of these methods. FY'07 Accomplishments: • National Risk Management Research Laboratories, ORD performed a literature review of molecular methods for simultaneous detection of pathogens in water. The work was completed on June 15, 2007 and will be available on-line at the action team's website.(http://www.epa.gov/etop/forum/) • A workshop to solicit ideas, suggestions and recommendations on "Innovative Approaches for Detecting Microorganisms in Water for high-throughput detection of waterborne pathogens was held from June 18-20, 2007, at Cincinnati. The workshop, co-sponsored by EPA's Office of Research and Development's (ORD) and the Office of Water (OW), brought together approximately 78 researchers and regulatory personnel from academia, industry, and government to discuss ongoing research on innovative approaches to detect microorganisms in water in a real- time manner. The workshop served as a stimulus for increased collaborations among the various researchers and included information on various national and international efforts and initiatives. The proceedings of the workshop are posted at- http://es.epa.gov/ncer/publications/workshop/pdf/microproceedings061807.pdf • The focus group suggested topics for SBIR solicitations for the year 2007 ------- General accomplishments: • Monthly meetings • Added two new members: from the National Center for Environmental Research, ORD, EPA and Advanced Concepts and Technologies International, Waco, Tx.. FY'08 Plan: • Compile a list of EPA funded projects that utilize molecular technologies to detect waterborne pathogens in environmental samples- To be completed by January, 2008 • Perform market research of vendors selling the various consumables, reagents and instrumentation needed for the above mentioned technologies-To be completed by April, 2008 • Quantify economic and environmental benefits for the use of these methods. To be completed by September, 2008 Current Funding and Additional Resources Required: Funding in the range $15K needed for contractor support for a report on economic and environmental benefits for the use of molecular methods. Funding has been requested from OW, EPA . NRMRL, ORD, EPA funded ($10K) the literature review performed this year on molecular methods for simultaneous detection of pathogens in water (See bullet 1 under '07 accomplishments). NCER, ORD provided funding for the workshop on innovative methods (See bullet 2 under '07 accomplishments) Issues: The technical issues have been stated under "Technology Challenge". The implementation issue that affects our work is resources. There is always a need to identify other groups that do have the resources and to leverage on them to accomplish our goals. Performance Measures: Our immediate performance measures would be • The successful identification of the work that is being done for rapid detection of microbial contamination of water • Pilot testing, with focus on current limitations (e.g., sensitivity and specificity; live/dead), for the technology that is getting closer to be off-the-shelf. • Identification of technologies that have been successfully applied to clinical, food and other industries that can be successfully adapted to the water industry Lessons Learned: Make the team's goal problem focused rather than technology focused, because there may not be the perfect technology that meets the needs of the environmental problem. ------- |