Page 53 - SAMRC AnnualReport 2025-26

P E R FOR M A NC E I N FOR M A T I ON

Microbial Water Quality
Monitoring Research Unit

UNIT DIRECTOR:
Prof. Anthony Okoh
aokoh@ufh.ac.za

Overview of the Research Unit population groups in South Africa. Through its
research programmes, the Centre contributes
The Microbial Water Quality Monitoring Centre is
based at the Alice Campus of the University of Fort to developing human capital while advancing
scientific solutions to pressing public health
Hare and became operational on 1 April 2015. The challenges.
Centre's research mandate focuses on evaluating
emerging challenges in microbial water quality and Our research directly supports the SAMRC
safety within aquatic environments in the Eastern Strategic Goals 2 and 4, while contributing to the
Cape Province, while serving as a platform for skills achievement of the United Nations Sustainable
and capacity development in the water and public Development Goals (SDGs) 1, 3, 6, 8, 13 and 14.
health sectors.
Key Milestones and Achievements
This mandate continues to drive the Centre's
aspiration of becoming a leading Centre of During the 2025/2026 financial year, the Centre
Excellence dedicated to developing the next maintained its high level of research productivity by
generation of microbial water resource and advancing its research mandate and contributing
sanitation specialists within the public health to scientific knowledge through peer-reviewed
domain. The Centre also seeks to provide publications, conference presentations and
innovative, evidence-based solutions to the postgraduate research outputs. This was achieved
numerous water and sanitation challenges facing through projects undertaken within the following
South Africa and beyond. major research themes:

Our core research themes include: › Wastewater pathogen surveillance: Monitoring
SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens, including
› Water and wastewater quality and genomics, adenoviruses, noroviruses, rotaviruses and
including emerging infectious diseases and respiratory viruses, in wastewater from the
pathogen survival; Amathole District Municipality and Buffalo City
› Emerging chemical pollutants and their public Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape.
health implications; › Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at the food-
› Environmental reservoirs of antimicrobial water-agriculture interface: Investigating
resistance; and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of bacteria
isolated from aquatic environments and evaluating
› Discovery of novel bioactive compounds with the effects of environmental pollutants on
health and biotechnological applications. antimicrobial resistance gene transfer.

The Centre's work is underpinned by the › Environmental pollutants: Developing innovative
urgent need to address the shortage of skilled technologies for the removal of nucleic acids
professionals in the water and sanitation sectors, and other toxic contaminants from water and
particularly among previously disadvantaged wastewater systems.

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