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Engineering, Art & Tech

Press Release: New method offers rapid monitoring of contamination in drinking water

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12th October 2021: Scientists have developed a reliable new method to monitor the risk of contamination in drinking water which gives immediate results, enabling global communities to respond rapidly and help reduce their exposure to waterborne diseases.

Drinking water contaminated with human and animal faeces is consumed by at least two billion people worldwide. This pollution is responsible for outbreaks of waterborne diseases that remain common, even in high-income countries.

For decades, standard approaches to test water supplies have used bacteriological indicators of faecal contamination, most commonly thermotolerant coliform bacteria known as TTCs. Analysis of these indicators requires use of sterile equipment and culturing techniques, which practically limit the frequency of water sampling so that contamination events can be missed. Time lags of 1 or 2 days before results are returned mean that people can already have been exposed to the faecal contamination.

A new study, published this week in Water Research by a collaborative team from Makerere University, the British Geological Survey, and University College London, shows how a technique exploiting the fluorescent properties of microbiological materials in water provides an easy-to-use method to test for faecal contamination.

Co-author Jacintha Nayebare, PhD student at Makerere University said, “In-situ fluorescence spectroscopy provides an instantaneous assessment of faecal contamination allowing rapid feedback to consumers that could reduce exposure of consumers to faecally contaminated drinking water.”

The team examined changes in water quality over a 14-month period from 40 sources supplied by groundwater in Lukaya Town of south-central Uganda. The results show not only that in-situ fluorescence provides an instantaneous measure of faecal contamination but also that it is a more reliable measure of the risk of faecal contamination than TTCs.

Co-author, Dr. Robinah Kulabako from Makerere University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering said, “this rapid, robust method of monitoring the risk posed by faecal contamination has enormous implications in Uganda not only for untreated water sources such as wells and springs thereby, enabling communities to respond rapidly to contamination events but also for low-cost, continuous monitoring of piped water supplies.”  

This research builds upon field studies conducted by the team in a network of urban observatories in Senegal, Kenya and Uganda under the AfriWatSan project, supported by The Royal Society and DFID, as well as research in the UK, India, and Zambia funded by Natural Environment Research Council.

Lead-author, James Sorensen from the BGS and UCL said: “the ability to test in-situ fluorescence as an indicator of faecal contamination risk in a wide range of environments and conditions has greatly improved both the evidence base for this method of water quality monitoring and our understanding of what fluorescence observed in water means.”

Use of inline fluorimeter to test the quality of a municipal piped water supply from a Chalk aquifer in southern England.
Use of inline fluorimeter to test the quality of a municipal piped water supply from a Chalk aquifer in southern England.

Engineering, Art & Tech

Collaboration between UETCL-CEDAT: CEDAT hosts the collaboration strategy workshop

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The College of Engineering, Design, Art, and Technology (CEDAT) entered into a partnership with Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (UETCL) as one of the strategies to step up the Industry-Academia Partnership.

CEDAT hosted a 2-day UETCL-CEDAT collaboration strategy workshop from the 6th to the 7th of March 2024 as one of the initial steps in the actualization of the provisions of the memorandum of understanding signed some time back between the two institutions.

While making opening remarks at the event attended by participants from both CEDAT and UECTL, The Dean, School of Engineering, Assoc. Prof. Dorothy Okello noted that the strategy workshop was one of the first fruits of the journey that started with the signing of the MoU with UECTL.  We have used a different approach in how we action this MOU and it will be a more sustainable way, she said, while explaining that the workshop would clarify not only what was to be done in the short term or activity by activity basis but also how to carry this forward on a long term. Click here for more details

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Engineering, Art & Tech

The CEDAT Open Day Conference, Innovation Challenge and Exhibition, 2024

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The College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT) held the 2024 Open Day drawing the participation of the students, the academia, and the Industry.

The three-day event ran from 28th February to March 1st, 2024 at the college under the Theme; Green Horizons: Cultivating Sustainable Futures through Green Skills for Green Jobs,” Showcasing projects focused on renewable energy production, energy efficiency, and sustainable transportation. Click here for more details

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Engineering, Art & Tech

TUM SEED Center International Summer School 2024

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A Poster of the TUM SEED Centre Makerere University Living Lab. College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT), Kampala Uganda, East Africa.

The TUM SEED Center for Sustainable Energies, Entrepreneurship, and Development at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is part of the long-term DAAD program “Exceed – Excellence Centers for Exchange and Development”, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development 2020-2024. The TUM SEED Center aims to contribute to sustainable development by offering higher education and conducting research at the intersection of sustainable energies and entrepreneurship in the Global South (https://www.seed.tum.de).

The TUM SEED Center announces up to five scholarships for the International Summer School 2024 “Empowering Tomorrow: Sustainable Energies and Entrepreneurship”, which will take place in Munich from 8 to 19 July 2024. (https://www.mgt.tum.de/programs/international-summer-school). The scholarship covers the program’s total costs, including the participant fee, housing, and mobility costs.

Eligibility criteria:

The candidate must be a master’s student or a young professional (having already achieved a bachelor’s degree) from one of the partner universities of the TUM SEED Center with a strong interest in sustainable energies and entrepreneurship. Makerere University is one of the partner universities, https://cedat.mak.ac.ug/TUMSEED/, and more information about TUM SEED Center @ Makerere may be found below.

How to apply:

In line with DAAD, the TUM SEED Center seeks to enhance gender equality. It highly encourages female candidates to apply for the announced scholarship. Please send your application, including your motivation letter, CV, and Transcript of Records in one PDF file, to Ms. Katharina Eichinger (email: katharina.ke.eichinger@tum.de) by 15 March 2024 (23:59).

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