US-Germany Cooperative Research: Modeling the Survival and Potential Proliferation of Microbial Agents in Drinking Water Distribution Systems

Montana State University, Bozeman MT

Investigators

Abstract

0340715 Camper This award supports Anne Camper and a student from the Montana State University in a collaboration with Woldfgang Uhl of the Department of Water Technology at the University of Duisburg, Germany. The goal of this collaborative international project is to enhance and expand understanding of the transport, fate, and persistence of microbes in drinking water distribution systems. In particular, it will lead to an understanding of the partitioning and persistence of microbes into biofilms and other deposits found on the surfaces of all drinking water pipes. The goal is to understand the behavior of indicator organisms or potentially pathogenic bacteria in distribution systems that are present due to passage through treatment, deliberate acts of bioterrorism, or from less sinister breaches in the distribution system. This will be accomplished by refining and validating existing mathematical models present both at the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University and within the University of Duisburg. The research will involve a transfer of personnel between the two institutions, which will substantially benefit the two students involved, giving them international perspectives on the research. The cultural exchange between faculty and students has impacts that reach beyond the scientific expertise that will be gained from the collaboration. The models proposed here are important in being able to determine the vulnerability of our water supplies to deliberate or natural contamination events, as well as to determine the long-term impact of these events on water safety.