Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2010AL87B

Development of an In-situ Capable Method for Detecting Pathogenic Bacteria in the Alabama Water Supplies

Institute: Alabama
Year Established: 2010 Start Date: 2010-03-01 End Date: 2012-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $50,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $102,262

Principal Investigators: Ahjeong Son

Abstract: Water is the vital resource that fuels Alabama's growth in agriculture, industrial output and technology. Gifted with more than a million acres of lakes, 1600 miles of rivers and an average annual rainfall of more than 50 inches, Alabama is able to provide precious water for growing commodity crops such as cotton and soy beans, steel production, aerospace and biomedical technologies. It also provides valuable recreation in the form of pristine lakes and rivers in state parks. And of course, it is our source of drinking water. In other words, our water is such an indispensible resource that warrents no less than a state of the art technology to safeguard its integrity and to ensure its continual availablilty in a useable and safe form for future generations to come. The research in this proposal will push the technology envelope and develop a new rapid, accurate and yet robust technique that caters to the detection of specific pathogens in-situ. The principle behind this technique is intended to permit eventual development of an enabling field tool, which will safeguard Alabama's water resources.