Principal speaker
Dr Joan B. Rose
Professor, Michigan State University
Homer Nowlin Chair in Water Research
Seminar Title: Water Quality and Public Health Under Climate Change
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ABSTRACT
Water is one of the most critical of all the world’s life support systems on which this Blue Planet depends upon. Water quantity and quality are interlinked with our global BioHealth, servicing a sustainable plant, animal and human network. Understanding water quality at larger scales is essential to inform investments for the future protection and restoration of public health. In the past 60 years’ acceleration in population growth, land-use change, use of fertilizers, and water have led us into the Anthropocene. Water quality degradation as demonstrated by increased eutrophication, fecal contamination and the spread of antibiotic resistance, is now a global phenomenon that is further exacerbated by climate change. Despite continued investment in infrastructure and environmental protection policies, water pollution continues to impact on health. Waterborne diseases in humans are characterized by pathogens which are persistent, potent, excreted at high numbers and zoonotic. Bacteria, viruses and parasites such as E. coli 0157H7, norovirus and Cryptosporidium, continue to burden public health while emerging pathogens such as Cyclovirus and rare amoeba present additional challenges. Through the use of a Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) framework and molecular tools (microbial source tracking and pathogen specific diagnostic testing), point and diffuses sources and specific hazards are now identifiable; water quality can be addressed through targeted monitoring and management strategies. It is more important than ever to implement these key approaches to effectively and efficiently mitigate the impacts of an aging infrastructure (or lack thereof) compounded by global changes, in order to sustain the BioHealth of this planet for the future.
BIOGRAPHY
Joan B. Rose holds the Homer Nowlin Chair in Water Research at Michigan State University in the Depts of Fisheries & Wildlife and Plant, Soil and Microbiological Science. Currently, she leads the Global Water Pathogens Project in partnership with UNESCO. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology while also serving on the EPA Science Advisory Board for the Great Lakes and the Board of Environmental Studies and Toxicology for the NRC of the Academies. She served the Science Advisory Board of the Environmental Protection Agency, as Chair of the Drinking Water Committee, 2004-2010. Dr. Rose was recently awarded an honorary citizenship of Singapore.
Dr. Rose earned her B.Sc. and Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Arizona, Tucson and is an international expert in water microbiology, water quality and public health. She is a pioneer in the emerging science of viral metagenomics; sequencing virus DNA in water sources using next-generation high-throughput technology. Her global activity includes; study and investigation of waterborne disease outbreaks water supplies, treatment, and reclamation. Applied research interests include microbial pathogens in recreational waters and climatic factors impacting water quality.