COVID-19 Surveillance Programme

THE WRC NATIONAL COVID-19 WATER AND SANITATION SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMME

Still in the of throes of confronting the current global health crisis, international effort is centered around curbing the transmission and spread of the coronavirus. This virus has emerged at the top of the list in the May 2020 Global burden of disease study, surpassing Malaria when reviewing global deaths caused by viruses. For countries where mitigation interventions such as social distancing have been uplifted, a great concern exists regarding the re-emergence of the virus, intensifying focus on effective surveillance systems that will prepare countries for future waves of the infection.

The Water Research Commission (WRC) on 20 May 2020 launched a special programme on the Surveillance of COVID-19 in wastewater. Conceptualised as the implementation vehicle for monitoring the spread of COVID-19 in communities, the primary aim of this programme is; to share knowledge, stimulate research and innovations on water quality, sanitation and health and support the initiatives of government in curbing the spread of COVID-19.

The limitations in the capacity of the global health system and the pace at which the Coronavirus is spreading have intensified the need to broaden surveillance strategies and to look at a wide array of approaches at tackling this pandemic. For the virus to be effectively constrained, rapid action is critical, and preparedness measures must outpace the pace of transmission. This is an almost impossible feat for developing countries that may not be able to afford mass-screening programmes to identify new infections.

WRC National COVID-19 Water and Sanitation Surveillance Programme

Despite some advances made in the medical and research fields, there is still a lot we do not know about the virus. What we have witnessed however is that containment of the virus has proven to be difficult in some areas, especially densely populated areas. The need to identify hotspots and the early stages of the disease to curb transmission is imperative. By determining geographical risk areas for infection and more specifically investigating epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 infections, secondary attack rates and modes of transmission, we could predict second wave infections and mitigate the virus societal and medical impact.

The WRC intervention is comprised of three phases, the first being the establishment of the proof of concept of presence of COVID-19 in wastewater and sanitation samples, as well as establishing sample collection and testing protocols so that monitoring results can be reliable and compared. The second phase focuses on the establishment of a wider capacity of laboratories in South Africa and puts into operation more communities into surveillance. The third phase will enable the facilitation of the establishment of a national surveillance programme supported by hotspot mapping.

Team Members’ Biographies – COVID-19 Surveillance Programme

Dr. Stanley Liphadzi
Chairperson

Dr Stanley Liphadzi is the Group Executive Manager of Research & Development at the Water Research Commission (WRC) of South Africa. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Venda. Dr Liphadzi holds a PhD in Biological Engineering from Kansas State University, an MSc (Agronomy) from the University of Pretoria, and a Master of Business Leadership (MBL) from the University of South Africa. He has previously worked as a University Lecturer, Development Manager, Research Manager, and Executive Manager. Dr Liphadzi has authored/co-authored over 27 peer reviewed publications. He has also served on the boards of various organisations, including the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre and the South Africa National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). Among other honours, Dr Liphadzi is a Fulbright Scholar.

Dr. Shafick Adams
Data & Information

Dr Shafick Adams is the Executive Manager responsible for the Water Resources and Ecosystems key strategic area at the Water Research Commission. He also functions as a Research Manager, managing research projects related to groundwater, data tools and water resources protection. He holds a PhD and MSc (cum laude) from the University of the Western Cape where he lectured prior to his appointment to the Water Research Commission. Dr Adams is the past chair of the Groundwater Division of the Geological Society of South Africa and co-chair of the International Water Association’s Groundwater Restoration and Management Specialist Group. He is a registered Natural Scientist with SACNASP and a Fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa. He holds positions on various strategic committees, task teams and advisory panels. Some of his personal research interests are in water supply diversification and smart tools for water resources management. His passion is human capacity development through research, professional bodies and individual mentorships.

Mr. Jay Bhagwan
Technical Support and Coordination

Jay Bhagwan is the Executive Manager of key strategic area of Water Use and Waste Management at the South African Water Research Commission, which focuses on the management of water and wastewater in the domestic, mining and industrial sectors. He has been instrumental in establishing a robust portfolio of research projects and innovations related to water supply and wastewater management.  Mr Bhagwan holds a Masters Degree in Tropical Public Health Engineering from Leeds University, UK and a GDE in Municipal Engineering from WITS University. With his knowledge and experience in the implementation of water and sanitation projects, he has played and participated in the shaping of national water policy and legislation. He has served as the President of the Water Institute of Southern Africa, Chairperson of the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Water Advisory Committee, as well as several international advisory positions. Currently Mr Bhagwan is a Board member of the FSMA, Chair of the IWA NSS Specialist Group, and a Committee member of Coalition Against Typhoid. He continues to be actively involved in broad range of areas in the field of water supply, wastewater and sanitation.

Dr. John Zvimba
Technical Support

Dr John Ngoni Zvimba is currently a Research Manager responsible for the sustainable integrated wastewater resource futures research portfolio at the Water Research Commission of South Africa. Prior to joining the WRC, Dr Zvimba was a Technical Specialist at Mintek and later became a Senior Researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). He has over 20 years of research experience, focusing on sustainable municipal, industrial and mining wastewater treatment and management. His experience covers research and development on technology and innovation for treatment, volarisation beneficiation of wastewater streams and sludges. He holds a PhD in Chemistry and has postdoctoral research experience in bioprocess engineering. Dr Zvimba has authored/co-authored over 20 peer reviewed publications, 1 book, 2 patents, several conference presentations, technical reports, and supervised/co-supervised postgraduate students (4 MSc and 1 PhD). He is currently a member of the Water Institute of Southern Africa and the International Water Association.

Dr. Nonhlanhla Kalebaila
Technical Support

Dr Nonhlanhla Kalebaila is a Research Manager at the Water Research Commission, leading and managing a portfolio of research on domestic water supply, drinking water treatment and water quality. Dr Kalebaila holds a PhD in Chemical Technology, specialising in water utilisation. Her areas of expertise lie around integrated water resources management, water treatment technology and quality, environmental science and awareness, waste management and resource recovery. Amidst the course of her professional career, she has also worked in the fields of environmental science, applied science, biochemistry, microbiology and nuclear technology. She has authored and co-authored several peer reviewed research papers, including original research papers, a book chapter and conference articles.

Dr. Eunice Ubomba-Jaswa
Technical Support

Dr Eunice Ubomba-Jaswa holds a PhD in Microbiology from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and an MSc in Medical Microbiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Her areas of expertise lie in microbiological water quality and how it ultimately affects public health. Dr Ubomba-Jaswa is currently a Research Manager: Water Resources Quality at the Water Research Commission (WRC) in South Africa where she manages a portfolio of projects that deal with  the thematic areas of water pollution and human health, emerging contaminants (microbial and chemical), removal of contaminants as well as source water protection.

Dr. Gina Pocock
Waterlab (Pty) Ltd

Gina holds a PhD degree in Microbiology and a BSc Honours degree in Applied Science (Water Utilisation Engineering). She is a water treatment and water quality specialist with 13 years’ experience working in the South African water industry. She is passionate about the research and development of innovative and sustainable water treatment technologies and their successful implementation through the innovation chain. in the development of water treatment processes and products, which includes treatment processes for mine and industry impacted water. Gina has conducted numerous assessments of wastewater and water treatment plants as well as water quality monitoring and compliance assessments, river health studies, technology due diligence reviews, water supply feasibility studies and climate change resilience planning. She has been the principle researcher and project leader on numerous Water Research Commission (WRC) funded projects, serves as an independent reviewer of proposals for the WRC and has sat on various project reference committees.

Leanne Coetzee
Waterlab (Pty) Ltd

Leanne is a water treatment and water quality management and monitoring specialist with 21 years of experience in the water sector. She has a Master’s degree in Microbiology and is a Professional Natural Scientist. She enjoys the optimisation and improvement of water and wastewater treatment works, including the visualisation and interpretation of information from routine operation and compliance data and process audits. She enjoys training of laboratory and process staff to understand operational information and processes and has a keen interest in research and management of eutrophic waters, water treatment, wastewater epidemiology and river health. As part of her portfolio she is involved in ISO Water Quality Technical Committee and is also involved in South African Standard Development Water Quality Technical Committee, which develops the drinking water standard. Leanne was also a lead assessor in the Blue and Green Drop Certification Program.

Prof. Maureen B Taylor
University of Pretoria

Prof Taylor read for the degrees of BSc (Zoology & Microbiology)(1971), BSc (Hons) (Microbiology)(1972) and MSc (Microbiology)(1975) at Rhodes University, Grahamstown. She then worked as a Research Officer, specialising in the bacteriology of meat and meat products, and later yeast taxonomy, at the Food Research Institute, CSIR. In November 1980 she joined the Virology Section of the Department of Medical Microbiology, later the Department of Medical Virology, University of Pretoria as a Professional Officer. Here she obtained her DSc (Microbiology)(1985), specialising in the propagation and detection of hepatitis A virus. In 1987 she was appointed as a senior lecturer in the Department, with promotion to Associate Professor (Ad hominem) in 2000, and Professor (Ad hominem) in 2013. From June 2013 – June 2018 she held the position of Rand Water Chair in Public Health where her research focused on the prevalence, detection, characterisation and molecular epidemiology of enteric viruses, especially those that are potentially food- and waterborne. In her position as Chair she also addressed the potential risks posed by biological and chemical contaminants in water to public health. Prof Taylor, now Professor Emeritus and retired, is the author or co-author of over 80 publications and. she has been invited to examine the MSc dissertations and PhD theses from a number of national and international tertiary institutions.

Dr. Janet Mans
University of Pretoria

Dr Janet Mans obtained her BSc, BSc (Hons) and MSc degrees in Biochemistry (University of Pretoria, South Africa). From 1999 she worked on fowl pox-based Newcastle disease virus vaccines at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute (South Africa). In 2004 she joined the Laboratory of Immunology (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, USA) as a predoctoral fellow in the Molecular Biology Section under the supervision of Dr David Margulies. She obtained her PhD, on the structure and function of mouse cytomegalovirus MHC-I homologs, in 2008 (Wits University, South Africa). Since 2008 she worked on noroviruses, first as postdoctoral fellow in the Enteric Virus and Environmental Virology Group at the Department of Medical Virology, University of Pretoria, where she was appointed as Senior Lecturer in 2014. Her research combines norovirus surveillance in the clinical setting and the environment to understand the molecular epidemiology and diversity of these viruses in South Africa.

Bettina Genthe
CSIR Stellenbosch

Bettina has an MSc in Microbiology and is a Senior Researcher at the CSIR. She has over 35 years’ experience in the field of environmental health aspects and water quality and more than 25 years’ experience in health risk assessments. Her key areas of expertise include: health risk assessment, water quality, microbiology, and molecular biology. She has lead research on water quality and health since 1988, focussing on water quality issues. She has been a temporary advisor to World Health Organisation (WHO) and United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) on Exposure Assessment. Bettina has extensive experience in water-related human health risk assessments, water quality monitoring (sampling and analyses), risk communication, health interventions, health and hygiene awareness creation and education.

Key Contacts

Dr Mamohloding Tlhagale – Stakeholder Engagement and Partnerships

Dr Chantal Ramcharan–Kotze – Business Development and Strategic Partnerships

Ms Nomakhosazana “Khosi” Jonas – Marketing and Communications

Dr Valerie Naidoo – Business Development and Innovations

Ms Boitumelo Lekalakala – General Enquiries