It’s a Long Way to the Tap: Microbiome and DNA-Based Omics at the Core of Drinking Water Quality

Abstract

Microbial communities interact with us and affect our health in ways that are only beginning to be understood. Microorganisms have been detected in every ecosystem on Earth, as well as in any built environment that has been investigated. Drinking water sources, drinking water treatment plants and distribution systems provide peculiar microbial ecological niches, dismantling the belief of the “biological simplicity” of drinking water. Nevertheless, drinking water microbiomes are understudied compared to other microbiomes. Recent DNA sequencing and meta-omics advancements allow a deeper understanding of drinking water microbiota. Thus, moving beyond the limits of day-to-day testing for specific pathogenic microbes, new approaches aim at predicting microbiome changes driven by disturbances at the macro-scale and overtime. This will foster an effective and proactive management of water sources, improving the drinking water supply system and the monitoring activities to lower public health risk. Here, we want to give a new angle on drinking water microbiome research. Starting from a selection of 231 scientific publications on this topic, we emphasize the value of biodiversity in drinking water ecosystems and how it can be related with industrialization. We then discuss how microbiome research can support sustainable drinking water management, encouraging collaborations across sectors and involving the society through responsible research and innovation.

Aquaculture ecosystem microbiome at the water-fish interface: the case-study of rainbow trout fed with Tenebrio molitor novel diets

“…Consequently, a broader understanding of aquaculture ecosystems as holobiomes is necessary to drive the sustainability of fish and environmental health. In the realm of Global Health concepts towards sustainability in aquaculture, contemporary studies are in favor of environmental biodiversity that encourages more diverse microbiomes [ 79 , 80 ], eventually resulting in a more resilient system and healthier farmed species. Such studies will pave the way for sufficient knowledge to modulate the microbiome in artificial ecosystems.…”

Drinking Water Microbiota, Entero-Mammary Pathways and Breast Cancer: Focus on Nontuberculous Mycobacteria

“…As water traverses through the distribution system, a myriad of factors shape microbial communities and their persistence, namely the distance from the treatment point, contact duration, physicochemical parameters, and local environmental conditions, such as maintenance procedures (e.g., corrosion control) or plumbing material and biofilms [13]. Notably, the microbiome residing within plumbing biofilms contributes significantly more to overall biodiversity than the initial bulk water present in the treatment plant post-potabilization [14].…”

Responses of drinking water bulk and biofilm microbiota to elevated water age in bench-scale simulated distribution systems

“…Stagnation as short as 8 h was found to be a significant driving force for shifts in building water bacterial communities 16 – 19 . Although there are increasing studies in this research area, studies focused specifically on drinking water microbiomes are still fragmentary 20 . Surprisingly, little information is available about eukaryotic communities in drinking water, although there has been a recent push to include eukaryotes and construct eukaryotic MAGs in metagenomic analysis 14 , 21 , 22 .…”