PathoCERT strengthens resilience against waterborne pathogens

PathoCERT was a Horizon 2020 European project with the overall objective to enhance the coordination and response abilities of first responders during contamination incidents in surface and drinking water. The project aimed to improve the capabilities of first responders for dealing with emergencies involving waterborne pathogens by giving them more situational awareness and helping them to rapidly and accurately detect these pathogens and control and mitigate emergencies.  Pathogens can include bacteria such as Campylobacter, viruses like Enterovirus and parasites such as Cryptosporidium. During this project, KWR researched and developed two new tools in collaboration with EURECAT and KIOS research institute (University of Cyprus), among others.

New tools: PathoTHREAT and PathoINVEST

Sotirios Paraskevopoulos, previously employed at KWR, was closely involved with this project, specifically in the development of two new tools:

PathoTHREAT Tool

The PathoTHREAT tool uses Artificial Intelligence to provide emergency responders with fast access to up-to-date information on pathogen characteristics, as well as control actions and mitigation measures from similar past contamination events. Paraskevopoulos: “The primary knowledge gap addressed by the PathoTHREAT tool was the need for rapid access to critical information. Traditionally, if a contamination event occurred, gathering such information could take hours or even days, requiring expert-level knowledge to navigate through an extensive literature review. During an emergency, time is of the essence.”

The PathoTHREAT tool was developed to close this gap, allowing responders to input initial data (e.g. contamination type, magnitude, cause of event) and receive targeted information (e.g. expected hospitalization, associated pathogens, potential mitigation measures) within minutes, rather than hours or days. This enables quicker and better-informed decisions during crises and improves assessments of public health risks.

PathoINVEST Tool

The PathoINVEST tool can simulate pathogen contamination events in the drinking water network. Designed specifically for crisis situations, this tool enables drinking water utilities to predict the spread of contaminants and assess potential health risks immediately as an incident unfolds. Paraskevopoulos explains, “In a crisis, you need to know exactly what you’re dealing with,” emphasizing that the PathoINVEST tool provides a realistic, real-time representation of water quality in a network that can help deliver a timely response and support decision-making during emergency responses.

“The tool can predict how pathogens might spread, assess health risks using Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA), and suggests potential sampling locations to identify the source of suspected contamination. It also provides water utilities with various mitigation strategies and it helps determine the best locations to place sensors for detecting contamination.” Its innovative and practical applicability was underlined by Water Europe, who awarded the tool the 2024 “Digital Water Award”.

The user interface of PathoINVEST

Promising pilots across Europe

The two technologies developed by PathoCERT were tested in three pilot studies across Europe, including the Netherlands, Cyprus, and Spain. The test results were promising: the new tools proved effective in real-life scenarios, significantly improving response times and adequacy in contamination incidents.

Paraskevopoulos: “In Cyprus and Spain, the case study involved an earthquake that damaged the critical infrastructure of the city. As a cascading event, the drinking water network was contaminated with wastewater.” The involved authorities used PathoTHREAT to find all the relevant information about the emergency and identify the best next steps. They used PathoINVEST to visualize the spreading of contamination in their network, find the contamination source, find the best location for sampling, and assess the risk of infection. “All relevant authorities were happy with the tools as they helped them significantly in the decision-making process and the mitigation phase of the emergency: saving time and, as a result, people. They indicated they would like to integrate the tools into their standard operating procedures.

In the Netherlands, PathoINVEST was employed to investigate a suspected intentional contamination following customer complaints.  The complaints of water taste and odor were used as a starting point to identify the contamination source within 1.5 hours, much quicker than their current approach. This rapid identification enabled the water utility to respond faster and more efficiently. Their feedback was that in such situations (suspected intentional contamination), having a tool that models real-time pathogen propagation and identifies the contamination source gave them a significant head start. They also recognized the need for further training to effectively incorporate the tool into their standard operating procedures.

An example of a visualisation of the spread of waterborne pathogens

Working towards market launch

Paraskevopoulos acknowledges the potential of the tools developed under PathoCERT to enhance coordination capabilities: “While the tools show promise, they require further development and validation through additional pilot case studies before broader deployment can be considered. With these steps, opportunities for market exploration may arise in the future.” Once fully developed, these tools could offer drinking water utilities and emergency services better preparedness to mitigate the impact of waterborne pathogen emergencies.