About WaterPath

What is the WaterPath Toolkit?

WaterPath is an open-source modelling toolkit for quantifying and visualising the impact of climate change and socio-economic development on waterborne pathogens and AMR bacteria in surface water and consequent disease risk.

We envisage that the WaterPath Toolkit becomes the main point of reference for modelling population exposure to waterborne diseases in future climate scenario analysis. Targeting a diverse audience of users: scientists, modellers and data scientists, software engineers and policy makers, we are creating a unique community of practice that will participate in the conceptualization and testing of the Toolkit.

What does it do?

The toolkit provides knowledge for stakeholders on main patterns in pathogen concentrations and disease risk now and in the future (2030, 2050, 2100). Additionally, it presents the main sources of contamination and interventions. Moreover, for modellers, the toolkit provides open access to the Global Waterborne Pathogen (GloWPa) model and the data required for the model (present and future scenarios). In the project we will develop the GloWPa model further to include extreme events and Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment globally and for case-study regions. The developed model and toolkit will help stakeholders to identify and mitigate potential waterborne pathogen problems and associated health risks.

What is the GloWPa model?

The GloWPa (Global Waterborne Pathogen) model simulates emissions and concentrations of pathogens (currently Cryptosporidium and rotavirus) to/in surface water. These pathogens are known to be a leading cause of diarrhoeal diseases globally. GloWPa focuses on human and livestock emissions of pathogens that end up in surface water systems through various pathways. Special attention is paid to the storage and removal of pathogens in manure storage facilities or wastewater treatment systems. The concentration of the pathogens is calculated using the human and livestock emissions and information hydrology. The Global Waterborne Pathogen (GloWPa) model has been developed over the years and we constantly work to improve the model. The model The following publications provide the best available overview of the model: