#858: Dr Nicholas Ashbolt 2017: U-Bends and Superbugs

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When it comes to water quality and disease, it’s time to change the design of water treatment, transport and plumbing.

That’s the advice of Dr. Nicholas Ashbolt. 

He holds the Alberta Innovates Translational Health Chair in Water at the University of Alberta.

Take the lowly U-bend, for example.

DR NICHOLAS ASHBOLT:  All that water goes down the sink and waste lines in buildings.  And in the U-bends in those, we’re finding they also get colonized by bacteria and worse, they get colonized, particularly in healthcare settings, by antibiotic resistant bacteria.    And in multi-rise buildings when you flush a toilet upstairs, there are some pressure waves that can pulse and aerosolize those resistant bacteria from the U-bends back into the bathroom of that facility.    And indeed, there have been some classic examples now in Europe, where antibiotic resistant bacteria are chronically infecting people in the one room in a hospital environment And its realized that it is because it’s coming from the U-bends which are never cleaned out because people hadn’t realized the nature of this risk pathway before. 

Dr. Ashbolt is testing one solution to the U-bend problem, and that’s vacuum plumbing.

Thanks today to ALBERTA INNOVATES

Learn more at INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY.com

I’M CHERYL CROUCHER

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Alberta Innovates

Alberta Innovates is a provincially funded Corporation with a mandate to deliver 21st century solutions for the most compelling challenges facing Albertans. We do this by building on our province’s research and technology development strengths in the core sectors of health, environment, energy, food and fibre and platforms such as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and omics. We are working with our partners to diversify Alberta’s economy, improve our environmental performance and enhance our well-being through research and innovation. 

The Alberta Innovates system has roots stretching back almost 90 years

In March, 2016 the consolidation of Alberta Innovates was announced and on November 1, a single, integrated innovation powerhouse, Alberta Innovates, was formed. Two applied research subsidiaries – Innotech Alberta and C-Fer Technologies –  serve public and private sector interests.

The Alberta Innovates system was first created in January 2010, as part of an overall innovation framework developed within the Alberta Research and Innovation Act. At that time, four corporations were established:

  • Bio Solutions
  • Energy and Environment Solutions
  • Health Solutions
  • Technology Futures.

The Alberta Innovates system has a 90-year legacy. Our expertise is built on the successes of:

  • Alberta Institute for Agriculture
  • Forestry and the Environment
  • Alberta Agricultural Research Institute
  • Alberta Forestry Research Institute
  • Alberta Life Sciences Institute
  • Alberta Ingenuity
  • Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research
  • Alberta Research Council
  • iCORE
  • nanoAlberta
  • Alberta Water Research Institute (AWRI)
  • Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI)
  • Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority (AOSTRA).

 

Program Date: 2017-04-04