Research Projects

Gap Analysis

IWH is evaluating the current and future water resource demands in Coastal Georgia by analyzing industry growth trends, population expansion, and existing water infrastructure capacity through real-time data monitoring and stakeholder input. This will span nine counties: Bryan, Bulloch, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Long, Liberty, and McIntosh.

Workforce Development

We are developing training programs and partnerships to equip the local workforce with skills in water resource management, smart technology applications, and sustainable practices, fostering job growth in water-related sectors.

Water Solutions

IWH will also implement smart water infrastructure and innovative water management strategies that enhance sustainability, optimize usage efficiency, and ensure long-term water security for businesses, communities, and industries in the region.

Dr. Asli Aslan and Luke Roberson from the IWH are focused on science communication, citizen science techniques, and environmental experiential education. Luke serves on the state board of the Georgia Adopt A Stream program (AAS), the state’s largest volunteer water quality monitoring program. The grant supplies teachers and students with the training and equipment to monitor their local waterways, understand the results, and log them into the AAS database for analysis.

The goal of the program is to provide place-based watershed experiential education to students who might otherwise not have this opportunity. In addition to helping students, teacher professional development and science communication are priorities of this grant.

Visit the SWAMP 2 GULF Website

Participants in the study will be asked to complete a survey about their health and drinking water. The results will help residents understand the presence of potential contaminants and encourage preventive health behaviors, including cancer screening.

Through this behavioral research, this study aims to bridge the gap between environmental health and preventive care, fostering healthier and more informed communities.

Marion, Alabama
Researchers at the Institute for Water and Health (IWH) at Georgia Southern University initiated a new project in Marion, Alabama, to address the city’s aging water infrastructure with a focus on workforce development. 

Project lead Dr. Aslan (Director, IWH) said, “Nationwide, community water systems are managed by specialized professionals to ensure safe water every time we turn on the tap. However, about 50 percent of water operators working at these utilities will retire in the next decade, and only 10 percent are expected to be replaced. Training the next generation of water operators and developing leaders for rural water systems is a matter of national security. The Institute for Water and Health is committed to launching a regional program to equip future water managers with the necessary skills to ensure safe water. This pilot project will lay the foundation for this goal and aims to expand the program throughout the Southeastern United States”.

“With this program being able to recruit young people from within our community to manage our water system that we are revitalizing, upgrading, and improving, this will be able to bring about stability and longevity for our community.”

– Dexter Hinton, Mayor of Marion, Alabama

The pilot project in Marion, Alabama, is a collaborative effort with Georgia Southern University and the University of Alabama. Dr. Lacey Huffling (College of Education at Georgia Southern University) and Dr. Lanna Nations (Alabama Water Institute) are co-PIs in this project. The project includes an internship program for next-generation water operators and a peer mentorship program for current water managers in partnership with the City of Eastman, Georgia. The project is funded by Alabama Power Co and Partnership for Inclusive Innovation.

Flyer for The Marion, AL Project

Using Algae to Reduce Emerging Contaminants in Wastewater

Algae are nature’s janitors for our water supply. These small plants feed on excess nitrogen and phosphorus coming from our fertilizers and detergents, pulling them out of the water.

Algal turf scrubbers are metal water channels covered with a rough surface. With sunlight and nutrients in the water, algae start growing and removing impurities from the water.

This project, a partnership between the IWH and a local municipal wastewater treatment plant, is the first of its kind in the nation to study nutrient removal onsite using this technology.

IWH researchers are expanding this research to see if this nature-based technology can be used for supporting industrial wastewater treatment in a cost-effective way.

The Environmental Protection Agency awarded $200k to Georgia Southern University to conduct a feasibility study to advance the understanding of how existing Anaerobic Digestion capacity at pulp and paper mills can be sustainably leveraged to treat food waste from university campuses. In anaerobic digestion, microbes break down (digest) organic matter in waste from animals, food, and wastewater without oxygen. This occurs in a small, sealed container called a reactor, specifically designed for the type of waste used. The complex microbe community that lives in the reactor digests industrial waste and creates biogas that can be used for energy. Led by Drs. Stetson Rowles, Francisco Cubas, and Asli Aslan, this project aims to reduce food waste going into landfills by feeding anaerobic digestors with the food waste created at university campuses. These advanced anaerobic digestors will improve industrial wastewater treatment capacity, protecting our water environment. 

This research was sponsored by the US Environmental Protection Agency

One Plate at a Time Flyer

This project was sponsored by the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation.

Located in central coastal Georgia, Glynn County contains the beach communities of Jekyll Island, Saint Simons Island, and Sea Island, along with the county seat of the City of Brunswick. Glynn County is also the home to four Superfund sites – Hercules 009 Landfill, Hercules Terry Creek Outfall, LCP Chemicals, and Brunswick Wood Preserving. County Commissioner Allen Booker (Fifth District) approached the IWH with a problem: Since the Coronavirus pandemic started in 2020, he had found that many more people in his district were subsistence fishing in Terry Creek, a water body known to have high levels of pollution. Although there are fishing advisories and monitoring has been done by the EPA and Hercules, many warnings are ignored.

There are many reasons for people choosing to continue fishing at Terry Creek. Generational, geographic, cultural, and income factors can be very powerful, especially if the anglers are not prioritized in the science communication plan.

This research project facilitated the creation of a community water quality data collection and communication team. The Safe Water Ambassador Group, or SWAG, worked to collect water quality data in the areas where people fish, communicate their results with the people to become an example for community/academia partnership.

For an in-depth look into the people, places, and research that made this project, please view our online Story Map.

Important Considerations

Water

• Co-selection of sites important for science and the community
• Monitoring using established EPA-approved protocols
• Georgia Adopt-A-Stream database
• Advanced IDEXX bacterial lab used for water quality measurements

Public Health

• Targeted sites based on proximity to Superfund sites and usage as fishing/crabbing locations
• Group of participants well-versed in health hazards – several participated in previous research

Environmental Justice

• Bacterial analysis lab is owned by the community
• Participants are paid, not just volunteers
• Bridging the gap between data collectors and the community most affected by hazardous conditions
• Steps towards better policies, improved scientific literacy, and investment in community advancement

Public Water Data at Your Fingertips

Sponsored by the GA Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Department of Natural Resources (GA DNR), this interactive water resource data tool presents a snapshot of historical and current hydrologic conditions across the region. GA DNR and the Coastal Regional Water Planning Council contributed expertise and advised on the design of the dashboard.

Our diverse set of stakeholders prioritized ease of use, agile data selection, and clear communication. By targeting a regional approach and screening groundwater and surface water availability, the team developed a cost-effective demonstration project, evaluated the required effort level and complexity for design and deployment regionally, and assessed the potential challenges for broader-scale implementation.

Visit the Water Dashboard here.

Visit the RaMP program website.

IWH, in collaboration with the College of Sciences and Mathematics and College of Engineering received a National Science Foundation grant to train the next generation STEM workforce.

The MROC²S program brings together a network of scientists, educators, and experts from various sectors to support participants from groups traditionally underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. In addition, it trains individuals with limited research experience in a cohort setting to develop the next generation of natural resource professionals.  

The goal is to provide year-round mentoring, professional development, and diverse research training opportunities in natural resource science for postbaccalaureate participants. By doing so, MROC²S aims to develop an inclusive research and technical skills program that produces a more diverse STEM workforce. Program participants are integrated into a diverse network of natural resource professionals devoted to research, management, and conservation efforts in the Atlantic Coastal Plain and Gulf Coast regions to expose them to careers and opportunities in this field. Network partners contribute to a common scientific theme that centers on the restoration, conservation, and management of natural resources in the southeast. As participants, program fellows contribute to the rich history of collaborative work and long-term data that helps guide and inform research efforts in this ecologically resource-rich and diverse region of the US. Using long-term data from core sites coupled with skill training and mentoring resources to guide the research, our collaborative network will lead to the professional development of participants to pursue careers in coastal and natural resource science. Furthermore, the activities and experiences provided by the program are guided by a theoretical framework that leads to scientific integration and a sense of belonging to the scientific community among participants. This framework incorporates critical environmental agency to develop participants’ science self-efficacy, identity, and sense of belonging.

This research is funded through the National Science Foundation.

What are indicator bacteria?
Identifying waterborne pathogens can be difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. USEPA recommends testing for surrogates of pathogens called indicator bacteria. Indicator bacteria live in the intestines of humans and other animals, so detecting these bacteria in water shows fecal pollution. Indicator bacteria are easier to enumerate and much cheaper to test than pathogens.

Currently, two fecal indicators are commonly used for water quality testing. Escherichia coli is a type of bacterium found in the feces of humans and other warm-blooded animals. Enterococci, which belong to the enterococcus, are two species (E. faecalis and E. faecium) commonly found in human intestines and feces. E. coli is used for freshwater, and Enterococci is used for marine waters. 

Can indicator bacteria identify sources of pollution?
Researchers have been using indicator bacteria since the 1900’s. Indicator bacteria cannot identify the sources of pollution they only confirm the presence of fecal matter in water. Today, more advanced technologies can detect fecal pollution in water. They can also quantify and identify the sources. These techniques use principles of molecular microbiology and are known as “Microbial Source Tracking” methods. What are the potential sources of water pollution?
Various sources can impact our recreational waters. Sewage and failing septic systems, livestock, wildlife, birds, and companion animals are some of these sources that pollute our beaches.

How do we detect these sources?
Researchers use microbial source tracking (MST) technique to identify the sources of pollution in recreational waters. Just like fingerprints can be traced back to a person, bacteria have specific characteristics that allow researchers to trace them back to their source (whether from humans, wildlife, farm animals, or pets).

MST attempts to match a microbe (e.g. bacterium) with a polluted site (e.g. beach or river) and a known source to suggest the origin of fecal pollution.  This can be achieved by testing a variety of target organisms using molecular methods such as quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).

At the IWH Labs, we use both traditional culture-based and DNA-based methods. In addition to quantifying fecal indicators, we can also identify the sources of pollution by targeting a diverse set of MST markers using USEPA-approved assays.