Texas A&M approved for $1 million project to track harmful water contaminants

Congressman Joaquin Castro secured approval from the U.S. House Appropriations Committee for $11.7 million to support San Antonio community projects.

This funding includes $1 million earmarked for a university project designed to detect emerging pathogenic threats and antibiotic resistance genes through wastewater surveillance. It will also extend the analysis to include surface and aquifer water.

In order for the project to come to fruition, the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate must still pass the FY2025 federal appropriations bill and sign them into law.

In 2021, Congress launched the community project funding process to provide an avenue for members to request direct federal funding to support community-driven initiatives in their districts.

Texas A&M-San Antonio has been using wastewater surveillance to track COVID-19 viral load. The new project seeks to expand surveillance and develop new methods to detect other emerging microbial threats in Bexar County and beyond.

Dr. Davida Smyth, associate professor in the Department of Natural Sciences stated in an A&M press release that “there is a growing problem with viruses like the avian flu and bacteria that have acquired resistance. These microbes can emerge and spread in communities, and we don’t necessarily see symptoms in people until there’s a serious outbreak.”

“With wastewater surveillance, you can detect if those kinds of microbes are circulating in an unbiased and non-invasive way and gain information on the population dynamics of infectious diseases,” said Smyth in the press release.