FROM THE EDITOR

I’m used to wastewater being top of mind this time of year, as we put the final touches on the annual wastewater issue and start planning our WEFTEC schedule. What’s new to me, however, is having friends be the first to bring up what’s happening in the industry instead of inevitably listening to me share a pump fact later in the conversation.

I was recently at a dinner where some of my friends were discussing the cyclosporiasis outbreak that began in May this year and is still ongoing as of early August, and one person asked me if I’d heard about Michigan State University (MSU)’s attempt to detect Cyclospora cayetanensis with wastewater surveillance. I had, thanks to my research for an article on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Wastewater Monitoring program (page 65), and I loved getting to talk in-depth about the ways researchers are working to use wastewater testing to protect public health.

The potential testing process is being developed by MSU’s Water Quality and Environmental Microbiology Lab, also known as the Rose lab. This research aims to be able to pinpoint both where outbreaks are surging and where cases are slowing down. In an article on MSU Today, Nishita D’Souza, an assistant professor at MSU and water microbiologist in the Rose lab, said, “Outbreaks like these underscore the importance of sustaining environmental and public health monitoring capacity, which can pivot to agile monitoring of new pathogens when warranted.”

Wastewater testing isn’t just making an impact when it comes to illness; it’s also helping communities get a better look at nutrition and identifying gaps in food access and security. This research is being conducted at Duke University School of Medicine and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. According to Duke School of Medicine Senior Science Writer and Managing Editor Shantell Kirkendoll, researchers built a DNA-sequencing platform, known as FoodSeq-FLOW, to “help track nutrition trends, identify gaps in food access and determine whether food security programs are reaching the people who need them most.”

This platform could help make the case for opening grocery stores in food deserts or offering more resources to local farmers so more fresh food options can be made available to the community.

And that’s certainly not all of the exciting things happening in wastewater. Turn to page 42 for the start of our cover series to learn more about data management, lubrication best practices, optimal system design and more.

Are you attending WEFTEC? Make sure to stop by booth #7022 to see the Pumps & Systems team. We’ll be happy to discuss anything from what topics you’d like covered to where to get the best po’boy in New Orleans.

As always, thanks for reading.