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What is eutrophication? - Our environmental impact

Preventing eutrophication

Eutrophication is a worldwide environmental problem which occurs in lakes and reservoirs, often caused by the enrichment of wastewater by the nutrients phosphorus and nitrogen. When this enriched wastewater enters an aquatic environment (which would naturally be low in nutrients), it encourages a vast increase in the growth of algae and other plants, termed an ‘algal bloom’. When these plants inevitably begin to die, decomposition by microorganisms occurs, depleting the dissolved oxygen concentration of the water. The resulting depletion of oxygen means aquatic plants and animals can no longer respire. This can have a devastating effect on biodiversity and ecosystems.

In some cases, eutrophication can also be toxic to human health. Some species of blue green algae (cyanobacteria) release potent toxins, which when consumed even in low concentrations are harmful to human health. This can prevent outdoor activities taking place, for example open-water swimming. Furthermore, predicted climate change and an increasing population may place a further strain on aquatic environments; it is important to minimise the cause of algal blooms where possible.

Wider environmental implications: replacing declining mineral phosphate

Modern intensive agriculture and food security depends on the application of fertilisers: the main components of which are nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. The limiting component of these fertilisers is phosphate. Mineral phosphorus has to be mined, and therefore is a finite resource; some estimates predict a shortage of mineral phosphate within 100 years. As rock phosphate supplies decline, the cost and demand for phosphate will also rise. It is therefore essential that an alternative to rock phosphate is found. We hope that if successful, the bioremediated phosphate from our bacteria can be recycled and used as fertilisers on fields (see business plan). This will remove the need for mining to take place, which has a damaging effect on the environment. Therefore in future our project may contribute to more sustainable agriculture.

Environmental impact of our product- Phil

Our project builds upon the ideas of enhanced biological phosphate removal (EBPR) in which bacteria known as polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) in activated sludge acquire phosphate inside their cells. However these current microbiological tools are inefficient and we feel that designing a bacterium to remove phosphate will be much better suited to the task. By creating a bacterium which is a stable accumulator of phosphate, our project aims to prevent the effect of eutrophication at its source. This would provide a more sustainable and economically viable solution to chemical phosphate remediation (see business plan). The byproduct produced by our project, remediated phosphate can be recycled and used as partial replacement to rock phosphate: this may enhance food security and remove the need for damaging phosphate mining.

Who is Phil?

Our team is working on exploiting the natural abilities of Escherichia coli to uptake phosphate. By studying its phosphate metabolism, we aim to improve E.coli‘s phosphate uptake from the environment and therefore engineer a bacterium that can be used as a better alternative to the current methods used by wastewater facilities. For this our team is looking into the genes responsible for phosphate transport and polyphosphate kinases (PPK) to allow the luxury uptake of phosphate into the E.Coli cells. We plan also to borrow genes from different organisms to enhance the natural bioremediation processes that already exist in our model. Our bacterium should be both efficient and stable for high levels of phosphate uptake.

We envisage our project to be a part of many future applications relating to the uptake and recovery of phosphate, with the possibility of being integrated by industry and with other projects.