Freshwater Colloquium – Tracking and Modeling Pathogens in Water Systems: From Watersheds to Wastewater Treatment

Tracking and predictive modeling of pathogens in aquatic systems can be used to assess recreational water quality, inform public health decisions through wastewater surveillance, and identify problematic conditions in wastewater treatment plants that may lead to effluent discharge challenges. This presentation first highlights predictive models built using measurements of Staphylococcus aureus and fecal indicator bacteria across fresh, brackish, and marine waters to better understand environmental drivers and mitigate risks to recreators. Next, modeling is used to evaluate the efficacy of wastewater-based epidemiology by comparing concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater to reported case counts using a novel testing instrument. Finally, this work explores how microbial indicators identified from conveyance systems and within wastewater treatment processes can help detect septic or stressed conditions that may contribute to effluent quality issues. Together, this research demonstrates how integrating pathogen monitoring, microbial community profiling, and modeling across watersheds and wastewater systems can inform water quality management, enhance treatment diagnostics, and strengthen public health forecasting.

Dr. Maria Steadmon is a postdoctoral researcher in the McLellan Lab at the School of Freshwater Sciences. She earned her Ph.D. in oceanography from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and her doctoral research centered on the detection and quantification of microbial pathogens across aquatic environments. She also worked with the Hawaiʻi Department of Health on their wastewater surveillance program. Her current role in the McLellan lab mainly focuses on investigating microbial communities in sewage conveyance systems and wastewater treatment plants.

This presentation is open to students, faculty, staff, alumni and the public.