AI-based predictions
Early warning system for drinking water suppliers
- von Juliana Fischer
- 14.01.2025
About 12% of drinking water in Germany comes from lakes and reservoirs. Their water quality is significantly influenced by the organisms living within them. However, climate change, environmental pollution, and invasive species such as blue-green algae threaten biodiversity – and thus the quality of drinking water. In the research project IQ Wasser, an interdisciplinary team at the University of Duisburg-Essen is examining microbial biodiversity using environmental DNA analyses. The goal is to develop an AI-based early warning system that detects changes in water quality.
“Many organisms contribute to water quality in drinking water reservoirs,” explains Dr Julia Nuy from Environmental Metagenomics at the Research Centre One Health. “Mussels filter particles out of the water, freshwater amphipods break down organic matter, and certain bacteria metabolise nitrogen or carbon.” A key principle is: the greater the diversity of species, the more stable ecosystem services such as water filtration remain. However, the role of biodiversity – particularly microbial diversity – has so far been largely overlooked when assessing water quality. Microorganisms like bacteria play essential roles in the ecosystem but also pose risks, such as cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), which proliferate as temperatures rise.
Over the next three years, the interdisciplinary team will collect samples four times a year from the Wahnbach Reservoir and the Kleine Kinzig Reservoir. “After filtration, we extract and fully sequence the DNA,” says Dr Julia Nuy, who leads the subproject on microbial ecology and biodiversity. “By working genome-resolved, we can reconstruct nearly complete genomes from small fragments, providing precise insights into microbial diversity and the ecosystem's services,” she explains. “From the genomes, we can identify whether bacteria metabolise nitrogen or carbon – a core function for the ecosystem.”
Another area of focus is the potential for pathogenicity. “We are examining how antibiotic resistance develops over time, whether specific resistance genes are only found in certain bacteria or across a wide range of microorganisms. Additionally, we analyse whether current trends in antibiotic use are detectable in the bacteria we study,” says Dr Nuy.
The data collected feeds into AI models that predict environmental changes and their impact on biodiversity. “Our aim is to create an early warning system for drinking water suppliers,” emphasises Nuy. “This will enable the early detection of potential hazards, such as algal blooms or antibiotic-resistant pathogens, allowing targeted countermeasures to be implemented.”
*The IQ Wasser project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research with approximately two million euros and coordinated by the TZW: DVGW Water Technology Center under Prof. Dr. Andreas Tiehm. At the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), Prof. Dr. Alexander Probst is a consortium partner. Other partners include the Fraunhofer Institute IOSB (Dr. Christian Kühnert), the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (Dr. Sabrina Kirschke), Moldaenke GmbH (Christian Moldaenke), and Ident Me GmbH (Anne Findeisen).
More information:
https://tzw.de/projekte/projektdetails/detail/projekte/iq-wasser-ki-biodiversitaet
Dr. Julia Nuy, Umweltmetagenomik, Research Centre One Health, Tel. 0201/183 4109, Mail julia.nuy@uni-due.de