Microbiological waterborne disease remains a significant concern for the worldwide water community. Whether it’s investigating an emerging pathogen or developing a new control strategy, the challenges facing water supply professionals, public health professionals, and regulatory agencies are daunting.
Topics to be covered at the Global Conference on Microbial Contaminants in Drinking Water, Singapore include, but are not limited to:
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Human Health, Risk and Policy Issues
The most important objective of water suppliers is providing water that is safe for human consumption. Water standards specific to microbial limits have been developed and changed over the years based on advances in analytical detection methods, studies on pathogens and emerging threats. Papers for this topic should focus on the new and existing pathogens and their infectivity and early outbreak detection and epidemics, QMRA (Quantitative Microbiological Risk Assessment), climate change, and potable reuse issues.
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Detection Technology
The most important factors for microbial contamination detection are the accuracy, sensitivity, speed and cost of the method. For water suppliers, fast and cost effective detection methods enable them to make timely and critical decisions. Most traditional methods of detection and analysis are often costly and take hours to complete. For this topic, papers should focus on advancements made in innovative and improvement in existing methods for pathogen and toxin detections and their rapidness as well as potential for online applications.
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Treatment and Management Issues
Chlorination is historically the most commonly used disinfection method however studies have shown that chlorination can produce undesirable disinfection by products. Through the advancement of technology a wider range of disinfection treatment options are now available including chloramination, advance oxidation methods and UV treatment. Challenges still exist however in balancing the cost and the effectiveness on target organisms and water quality. Papers for this topic should focus on:
- Advanced Drinking Water Treatment Strategies
- New and Existing Indicators and Surrogates
- Alternative and Integrated Disinfection Options
- Ozone, UV and Membrane for Disinfection Applications
- Pathogen Removal Challenges and Issues
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Tropical Water Quality Issues
There are microbial contamination challenges that are inherent in tropical waters. At these areas where the winds can be stronger and temperatures higher, certain microbiological organisms are able to survive longer, thrive and spread faster, resulting in epidemics that are different from those in other climate regions. Papers for this topic shall focus on microbial source tracking methods that are currently used to predict and identify the sources of microbial contamination and research on tropical waterborne pathogens, and on comparing disease causing agents under tropical versus those under other climate conditions.
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Disaster Planning & Management Issues
Part of the challenge for water service providers is meeting the higher expectations of their customers for safe, reliable and continuous supply of water especially during emergencies. Disaster planning and management is needed for both natural and man-made disasters (i.e. deliberate contamination). Papers for this topic should focus on source water protection against microbial contamination, monitoring strategies, risk communication during disasters and emergency response, infrastructure protection, and other preparedness issues for water safety and security.
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