Research on the health implications of the use of recycled water in South Africa

South Africa has an inadequate and unreliable supply of water. It is expected that water resources will be a limiting factor to development by the year 2020. Reclamation and reuse of sewage effluent is one possible method of supplementing existing supplies. Windhoek has had direct supplementation of its water supply for over a decade. Guidelines for using recycled sewage as a source of potable water are given and South African studies on chemical, microbiological and virological aspects of reclaimed water are reviewed. Epidemiological studies, retrospective in Windhoek and prospective for Cape Town, are discussed

Virological studies of water from the Cape Flats reclamation plant

The virological quality of sewage effluent treated by a pilot reclamation plant on the Cape Flats was evaluated. The potable water produced by the treatment was repeatedly shown to be free of virus contamination

Identification of a sheath-associated protein involved in phosphate transport in Sphaerotilus natans

Sphaerotilus natans was shown to have a fourfold lower K′ m of phosphate transport when grown in medium containing 0.1 m m phosphate, compared to cells grown in 10.0 m m phosphate. Analysis of sheath proteins from cells grown at these two phosphate levels revealed a protein of 53 kDa present in the sheath of cells grown at a phosphate concentration of 0.1 m m . This sheath-associated, phosphate-regulated protein, designated SapP, was gel purified and used to raise a polyclonal antibody. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to localize this protein to the surface of the sheathed cells. Phosphate uptake assays done in the presence of the antibody also showed a rise in the K′ m of phosphate transport in cells grown in 0.1 m m phosphate, indicating that this protein is involved in high-affinity phosphate transport.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46762/1/253_2004_Article_BF00166797.pd