This project formed the Mekong node of the Collaboration on Sewage Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 “ColoSSoS” project after Water Research Australia and the Australian Water Association identified that technology transfer within Australia’s broader region was a logical extension of the local project.

This project transferred leading Australian innovation in the environmental surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 to support the Governments of five countries in the Mekong River Delta (including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand) to prepare, respond and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. It established partnerships between Australia and these five countries and transferred SARS-CoV-2 environmental surveillance methods established in Australia by WaterRA and partners. The transfer of these methods has supported each Government’s efforts to monitor SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in water environments (primarily sewage and stormwater), to inform COVID-19 control strategies of the Governments and add to their COVID-19 resilience toolbox. Through developing the set-up for potential cost-effective earlier warning detection systems for COVID-19 outbreaks in each country, the project has supported the long-term strengthening of health security, systems, stability, social cohesion and economic recovery across the Mekong region.

Following on from the successes of the Mekong node of the ColoSSoS program, WaterRA entered into another project with the Australian Water Association to provide knowledge transfer and capacity building services to the Water Authority of Fiji. The techniques developed in Australia have now been trialed in both low prevalence case settings as well as during the height of the Australian outbreaks and can be confidently adapted and applied in these scenarios in Suva, Fiji.

The project has been structured in a similar way to ColoSSoS Mekong, with SA Water providing both utility and laboratory expertise to developed tailored sampling and analysis protocols. Australian health departments will also be engaged in a formal capacity to provide tailored advice to Fijian counterparts.

The international work to date has seen the application of SARS-CoV-2 detection and analysis practices outside of Australia in the Mekong region, through the sharing of tools, protocols, and best practice skills, and knowledge. These wastewater monitoring techniques will remain relevant if new strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus emerge globally, and current global and Australian research efforts focus on the identification of new strains in the community and ports of entry, as well as the quantification of proportions of these variants within community populations. Its use in Fiji will provide the heath agency with valuable information to make critical decisions to protect the community.

WaterRA’s continued involvement in these projects has provided our Australian Members an opportunity to elevate their international profile through DFAT-funded collaborations under the umbrella of the Australian Water Partnership. Furthermore, this sharing of Australian knowledge and skills supports Australia’s regional response to the ever-evolving Covid-19 situation, providing tools and strategies to help protect communities both in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.

The environmental conditions which cause blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) blooms vary according to location, the climate, and other attributes of aquatic ecosystems. This variety has made it difficult to develop one broadly applicable predictive model for cyanobacterial blooms. Water utilities monitor source waters to implement cyanobacterial risk management programmes but there are no standard protocols while limited information transfer between utilities has prevented the identification of management strategies that do or do not work. This research reviewed literature about early warning systems (Almuhtaram et al., 2021) and source control strategies, conducted a survey of 35 utilities in America and Canada (74%) and Australia (Kibuye et al., 2021) and evaluated selected control strategies. These different types of information were synthesised into decision trees within an overarching guidance document. It was concluded that a 3-tier framework to detect algal blooms which monitored biological activity, then confirmed the identification of cyanobacterial genes and associated metabolites gave sufficient early warning, while multi-barrier control strategies gave field-scale efficacy and enabled timely responses.

Blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) can bloom in marine and freshwater and cause additional problems for water utilities when they produce toxins and taste and odour compounds. This project consolidated a wealth of knowledge and experience in the management of cyanobacteria into an electronic / online international, practical, and user-friendly manual. It includes information about conducting risk assessments, developing monitoring programmes and incident management strategies, and management procedures to mitigate the risk posed by cyanotoxins.

Fish, frogs, and other aquatic animals sometimes show signs of ‘endocrine disruption’; aberrant changes to their hormone or reproductive systems that are thought to be caused by chemicals in the water they inhabit. Very few of these chemicals have been identified, and this prevents the use of classical chemistry-based analytical methods. The other problem is that the levels of hormone-like chemicals which have endocrine-disrupting biological effects tend to be so low that standard chemical methods cannot detect them. This research developed a suite of biological tests sensitive enough to detect very low levels of chemicals associated with certain types of endocrine disruption. These tests were used to examine wastewater, surface water and drinking water collected from Australia, South Africa and four European countries. The water samples were also subjected to standard chemical analysis, and the datasets compared. It was concluded that some wastewater and surface water samples contained compounds that interacted with components of the estrogen, progesterone, androgen and mineralocorticoid hormone systems, but none of the biological tests detected endocrine disrupting activity in drinking water.

Water treatment plants (WTP) produce safe drinking water that does not contain harmful microscopic pathogens, but subsequent pipe-leaks or valve or hydrant malfunctions en route to the customers tap increase the risk of pathogens entering the public water supply. International studies indicate a small increase in gastroenteritis for some customers downstream of mains pipeline breaks and repairs. This research compiled Australian cases and found that health risks are probably lower than international examples for many reasons, including that sewer and drinking water pipes tend not to be laid in the same trench. After improving understanding regarding the contamination risks of renewal and water main repair activities in Australia, a control and management framework was produced in accordance with the ADWG. This gives guidance to water utilities about staff training, risk assessment and optimal documentation processes for dynamic site evaluations and repair control mechanisms.

Water utilities lack the information they need to implement risk-based adaptation and planning strategies that incorporate climate change. This research addresses this problem by modelling the effects of climate change on reservoirs in three climate zones: temperate, humid tropical and Mediterranean. By integrating different modelling approaches it was concluded that increased temperatures will increase water stratification; the differences in water temperature that occur with depth. This is important because the duration and type of stratification affects the storage and release of substances from reservoir floors and this in turn affects blue-green algal blooms and water quality. The integrated modelling approach developed in this project can be applied to the management of contaminants running off the catchments and for future risk assessment. This information will also support the development of business cases for targeted catchment interventions.

The ADWG 2011 lacked objective, quantifiable criteria for measuring pathogen removal from source waters. The WHO requires that health-based targets (HBTs) are used to ensure safe drinking water. HBTs can be set by making ‘Disability Adjusted Life Year’ (DALY) calculations which incorporate information about a population; the average Australian lifespan and the impact of infection on the length of a healthy life. Pathogen levels in water that correspond to micro-DALYs with minimal population-level effects are too low to be detectable by existing tests. This problem is addressed by calculating ‘log removal values’ (LRVs). Pathogens can be measured in source and treated water after the application of a defined method. When 90% of the pathogen is removed, the LRV equals 1, while 99% removal has an LRV of 2. HBTs incorporate LRVs, which are based on objective, quantifiable criteria, to reduce pathogen loads to levels that correspond to acceptable Australian micro-DALY levels. This research collated existing datasets about pathogens in source waters and the efficiency of their removal by treatment plants around Australia. From this, default pathogen levels for a range of Australian source waters and climate events, and LRVs for different treatment methodologies were obtained.