Sewage Fungus Detection in Rivers

Following this week’s Channel 4 docu-series that looked at the actions of private water companies pumping untreated sewage into the England’s rivers, we are looking at how the effects of such pollution can be tracked and predicted.

A group from Oxford University published a paper in 2023, which focuses on outbreaks of sewage fungus - a fungus like bacteria that can present in rivers polluted with sewage as filaments and even large mats.

This paper was the first to look into sewage fungus at a deeper level than simply qualitative visual river inspections.  Measurements were taken at upstream and downstream of sewage ouflows as well as in the sewage outflow itself, using microscopy and flow cytometry as well as machine learning to measure and predict sewage fungus outbreaks at a microscopic level. This work developed a quantitative detection method that the group suggests could be used as a “canary in the coal mine” by organisations such as the environment agency allowing for early mitigation of potential environmental incidents.

Please read, rate and review the paper here:

Early detection and environmental drivers of sewage fungus outbreaks in rivers

Abstract Sewage effluent is a major ongoing threat to water quality and biodiversity in freshwater environments. It can cause outbreaks of sewage fungus (fungus‐like bacteria which form macroscop…

PaperstarsDania Albini, Lauren Lester, Philip Sanders, Jocelyne M. R. Hughes, Michelle C. Jackson