Global initiative launched to harness wastewater as an early warning system for public health protection
University of Bath
Researchers from CWBE at the University of Bath partnered with Bangor University have launched Global Wastewater Day (GWD), a pioneering international initiative to harness wastewater as an early warning system for public health protection.
The initiative will bring together scientists, governments, water utilities and public health organisations from around the world to establish one of the first coordinated global wastewater intelligence networks to transform wastewater from an overlooked by-product into one of the world's most powerful tools for understanding public health, environmental change and emerging global risks.
The initiative aims to create a simultaneous global snapshot of health and environmental conditions through wastewater analysis, generating new insights to strengthen disease surveillance, track antimicrobial resistance, protect the environment and improve pandemic preparedness.
Professor Davey Jones, from Bangor University (Wales), who is the leading the partnership, launched the initiative at the World Water Week conference in Stockholm, which brought together experts, policymakers, businesses and international organisations from across the globe.
The project will coordinate a single, global day of wastewater sampling on 31 March 2027, with participating partners analysing wastewater at host labs across the world.
Professor Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern, Global Wastewater Day co-chair and Director of the University of Bath’s Centre of Excellence in Water-Based Early-Warning Systems for Health Protection (CWBE), will provide the steer and deliver the chemical analysis programme of global wastewater samples with centre’s new cutting-edge mass spectrometry facility.
Professor Julie Barnett, Social Sciences Lead at CWBE, has also joined GWD steering committee to coordinate the ethical oversight of the initiative.
The aim is to generate the first synchronised snapshot of global public health using wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE).
Using established and cutting-edge methods, the programme will focus on detecting antimicrobial resistance (AMR), pathogens, pharmaceuticals, chemical indicators and other markers of human health.
The initiative is being delivered in partnership between the University of Bath, Bangor University, Verily Health, the Global Consortium for Wastewater and Environmental Surveillance for Public Health (GLOWACON), the European Commission Joint Research Centre, and a growing international consortium of scientific and public health organisations.
By capturing comparable information from communities around the world, Global Wastewater Day seeks to establish a new global benchmark for monitoring health and environmental change.
With over 31 countries signed up to date, the initiative’s long-term ambition is to create a "Planetary Health Observatory" where wastewater becomes a routine source of intelligence for understanding the interconnected health of people, animals and the environment.
Professor Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern, Director of CWBE at the University of Bath, said: "I am delighted to see this unique initiative moving forward.
“Global Wastewater Day provides an important opportunity to highlight the vital role of Wastewater-Based Epidemiology in protecting public health, safeguarding the environment, and driving sustainable innovation.
“As a powerful tool for monitoring population health and environmental trends, wastewater analysis will deliver actionable insights that support evidence-based decision-making and help build more resilient and sustainable communities worldwide.
“With cutting-edge analytical capabilities we will generate unprecedented insights into population health, including the burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, dietary and nutritional patterns, and exposure to hazardous chemicals, including PFAS.”
Davey Jones, Professor of Environmental Science and Public Health at Bangor University, said: "Everything we do in society leaves a footprint in our wastewater.
“With Global Wastewater Day we want to harness the information it provides to supercharge public health research across the world, helping us detect emerging threats earlier and build a stronger early-warning system for future pandemics.
“The initiative will enable a global comparison of public health data using standardised methods, while building a long-term resource through annual repeat sampling and an open-access dataset.
“A core principle of the project is accessibility and inclusivity, with a strong emphasis on supporting participation from low- and middle-income countries.
“We want to encourage as many scientists, organisations and communities as possible to get involved, contribute data and expertise, and share the initiative with colleagues and networks who may be interested.
“By working across borders, we have an unprecedented opportunity to transform wastewater from an overlooked resource into a source of global intelligence, helping to protect populations, strengthen resilience and support better decision-making for future generations.”
Organisations and researchers are invited to register their interest in taking part in Global Wastewater Day.
Catalyzing the community: Chemists, Navajo leaders educate on clean water
By pairing water quality research with community engagement, scientists and tribal leaders help residents identify safe drinking water sources
American Chemical Society
image:
An unregulated, livestock well in western Navajo Nation used by households without indoor plumbing.
view moreCredit: Jani C. Ingram
CHICAGO, Aug. 26, 2026 — Many Native American communities in rural areas rely on well water, but the quality and safety of that water can vary significantly. So, researchers led by Jani C. Ingram measured the levels of heavy metals in well water on tribal lands in a community partnership with the Navajo Nation. After compiling their water quality data, the researchers and tribal leaders developed best practices for distributing educational resources about safe drinking water to residents of Navajo reservations.
The researchers will present their results at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) during the “Community Engagement as a Catalyst for Clean Water Quality Management” symposium in McCormick Place. ACS Fall 2026 is being held August 23-27.
“It became clear that no one was monitoring these wells. Everyone on the reservation in that situation is on their own to find a water source for their households. — Jani C. Ingram
During the Cold War, Navajo Nation tribal lands in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah were heavily mined for uranium, a heavy metal found in rocks that is necessary for nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Ingram remembers hearing stories from relatives who worked in the uranium mines. Her mother is a member of the Navajo Nation.
“I didn't really know the extent of the abandonment of those mines,” says Ingram, an Analytical Chemist and Chair of the chemistry and biochemistry departments at Northern Arizona University. “I think you assume people clean up their messes, and that didn't happen.”
The abandonment of these mines led to uranium and other heavy metals entering nearby water resources. Although efforts are underway to clean abandoned uranium mines, many have had the potential to contaminate the wells that supply drinking water for people and livestock. Negative health effects result from consuming water with elevated levels of uranium, including compromised kidney function.
Most of the U.S. population has access to regulated clean water in their homes because of the Safe Drinking Water Act. But on Navajo lands, up to 30% of homes rely on private well water, which is not regulated by that act.
“It became clear that no one was monitoring these wells,” says Ingram. “Everyone on the reservation in that situation is on their own to find a water source for their households.”
This led Ingram to work with Navajo Nation tribal leaders to investigate potential water contamination. They worked to identify and measure the amount of uranium and other heavy metals in Navajo water wells.
Because many of the wells were on rural lands that are difficult to reach, Ingram relied on members of the Navajo Nation and students to accompany her and locate wells from which to retrieve water samples from. She and her collaborators found uranium levels in some of the wells above 30 parts per billion, the upper limit for safe drinking water set by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency. Uranium mining may also increase people’s exposure to other harmful substances, such as arsenic and manganese, which Ingram also found elevated levels of in the well water samples Ingesting arsenic and high amounts of manganese can lead to negative health effects, including cancer and neurological disorders, respectively.
Ingram’s team and her Navajo Nation collaborators designed and distributed educational materials identifying which wells were considered safe for sourcing drinking water. They attended tribal community meetings on Navajo reservations, spoke to community leaders, and identified the most culturally appropriate ways to share their findings with community members.
Ingram also provided data to other community organizations working to educate residents on safe water sources. For example, the data is accessible on a website built by the University of New Mexico that maps wells that have been tested on the reservations.
“You can see where your community is on the website map, and you can click on a well and get information about it. We’ve provided them our data on those wells,” Ingram says.
Ultimately, Ingram’s goal is to provide peer-reviewed water quality data to the Navajo Nation. Then the community members can use that data to support their requests for improved infrastructure on reservation lands.
“Having this data is really good for the community,” Ingram says. “If they request that a new well be dug, it tends to be that the deeper the well, the cleaner it is. Or they request a filter system on a regulated well. Our data gives them another tool to help make those arguments.”
The research was funded by the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Environmental Protection Agency, the American Cancer Society, the Native American Research Centers for Health, and the U.S. Department of Energy.
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Title
Working with Navajo communities on water characterization
Tommy Rock, Assistant Research Professor at Northern Arizona University, fills a container with water from a livestock well in Utah.
Credit
Jani C. Ingram
Abstract
This project aims to determine health risks and community impacts from exposure to environmental toxicants through contamination of water in Navajo communities. During the Cold War, the Navajo Reservation produced the largest supply of both raw and processed uranium ore purposed for US nuclear munitions. Although uranium mining ended in the 1980s, the mining left a legacy on the Navajo people and landscape. Increasingly, research demonstrates that mining activities released other elemental contamination into ground and surface water systems and harm a population’s health. Additionally, some work was focused on analyzing water sources for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS). These studies emphasized sampling unregulated water systems and characterizing water quality in sources across the Navajo Nation. Because all samples were collected from water sites labeled as “unregulated,” there is no regulatory obligation to monitor these sites or warn communities of any contamination – an important public and environmental health gap. It is estimated that 30% of the homes on the Navajo Nation do not have indoor plumbing; thus, water hauling from a number of sources is common. This study utilized a community-engaged research model to explore exposure pathways and identify culturally applicable and community constructed models for mitigation and exposure reduction. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and atomic absorption spectroscopy were utilized to detect elemental components within samples collected from unregulated water supplies. The research demonstrated that a large proportion of sampled sites exceeded the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum contaminant level for one or more of the elements analyzed. All water quality information gathered from this study has been shared with communities affected via flyers, reports, community presentations, and one-on-one meetings with community members.
Emerging contaminants follow distinct rules when partitioning between sediment and water, study finds
Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences
image:
Class-specific mechanistic regimes governing sediment–water partitioning of emerging contaminants. Schematic overview of the study framework and key findings. A nationwide dataset comprising 5,085 paired sediment–water records was compiled across China's major river basins for three emerging contaminant classes: per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), antibiotics (ABs), and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Through a multi-branch multi-head attention (MB-MHA) machine learning architecture integrated with molecular dynamics simulations, the study identifies class-specific mechanistic regimes in sediment–water partitioning, quantified by the distribution coefficient log Kd. PFASs are governed by ion-mediated interfacial control, antibiotics are dominated by molecular properties, and EDCs exhibit synergistic multiscale regulation involving molecular, geochemical and basin-scale factors. The framework enables spatially explicit prediction and risk mapping, distinguishing high-log Kd zones where contaminants tend to accumulate in sediments from low-log Kd zones where they remain mobile in the water column. Integrating molecular interactions with geochemical and basin-scale controls reveals class-specific partitioning regimes and improves contaminant risk prediction at the basin scale.
view moreCredit: Environmental Science and Ecotechnology
For decades, environmental scientists have struggled to predict where emerging contaminants end up in rivers—whether they linger in sediments or remain mobile in the water. That uncertainty has made risk assessment difficult and management decisions unreliable. Now, researchers have shown that three major classes of emerging contaminants follow fundamentally different mechanistic rules when partitioning between sediment and water, a finding that transforms how these pollutants can be tracked and managed at the basin scale.
Emerging contaminants—including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), antibiotics (ABs), and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs)—are increasingly detected in rivers worldwide. Sediments act as both long-term sinks and potential sources in natural aquatic systems, releasing contaminants back into the water under disturbances. Yet direct monitoring of sediment-water partitioning remains challenging due to ultra-trace concentrations, limited sensing technologies, and high analytical costs. Most available data rely on labor-intensive sampling with limited spatial and temporal coverage. Due to these challenges, there is an urgent need for reliable prediction methods that can work across large or data-scarce regions.
Now, a research team from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, has developed a cross-scale predictive framework that reveals exactly how these contaminants behave. Their findings, published (DOI: 10.1016/j.jese.2026.100751) on August 14, 2026, in Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, show that antibiotics are primarily governed by molecular descriptors, PFASs are strongly modulated by ion-mediated interfacial processes, and EDCs exhibit synergistic regulation by molecular, geochemical and basin-scale factors.
The team compiled a nationwide dataset of 5,085 paired sediment-water records from 1,093 sampling sites across China's seven major river basins. They then built a multi-branch multi-head attention (MB-MHA) machine learning architecture—a sophisticated framework that processes molecular descriptors, sediment-water properties and basin characteristics through separate but interactive branches. The model achieved exceptional predictive accuracy, with R² values of 0.76 for PFASs, 0.92 for antibiotics, and 0.89 for EDCs—substantially outperforming conventional artificial neural networks. Molecular dynamics simulations further confirmed the class-specific mechanisms at the molecular interface, showing that PFAS compounds form sodium-bridged complexes with mineral surfaces while antibiotics exhibit stronger affinity toward organic matter. The framework also enabled spatially explicit mapping of high-accumulation versus high-mobility zones, providing a quantitative basis for identifying contamination hotspots.
"What surprised us was not that the three classes behaved differently, but just how different the governing mechanisms turned out to be," the authors said. "Antibiotics are largely predictable from molecular structure alone. PFASs are much more sensitive to environmental conditions like temperature and pH. And EDCs sit right in the middle—they're influenced by everything from molecular flexibility to water physiochemistry to how urbanized the basin is. If you try to use one model for all three, you'll get it wrong."
The practical implications are substantial. For antibiotics, molecular descriptors alone can drive reliable predictions—simplifying monitoring efforts. For PFASs, environmental factors such as temperature, pH and sediment organic carbon must be carefully tracked. For EDCs, a multi-scale approach is essential, integrating molecular properties, water quality parameters and basin-scale urbanization patterns. The team demonstrated this framework's utility by generating monthly log Kd projections across the Greater Bay Area—one of the world's most densely urbanized regions—identifying areas where contaminants are likely to accumulate in sediments versus those where they remain mobile in the water column. These maps offer risk-relevant guidance for prioritizing monitoring sites, optimizing discharge schedules and designing adaptive wastewater treatment strategies.
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References
DOI
Original Source URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ese.2026.100751
Funding information
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52200112), General Program of the National Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2026A1515010474), National Key Research and Development Program of China (2024YFD1701205).
About Environmental Science and Ecotechnology
Environmental Science and Ecotechnology (ISSN 2666-4984) is an international, peer-reviewed, and open-access journal published by Elsevier. The journal publishes significant views and research across the full spectrum of ecology and environmental sciences, such as climate change, sustainability, biodiversity conservation, environment & health, green catalysis/processing for pollution control, and AI-driven environmental engineering. The latest impact factor of ESE is 14.3, according to the Journal Citation ReportsTM 2024.
Journal
Environmental Science and Ecotechnology
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Emerging contaminants follow class-specific mechanistic regimes in sediment–water partitioning
Article Publication Date
14-Aug-2026
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