Prof. Su Ming

Keynote: Translating drinking-water cyanobacterial risk management from China to Lake Victoria

Ming Su, Min Yang and Joseph Ogalo (Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing) with Christopher Mulanda Aura and James Last (Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, Kisumu). Sub-theme: Climate Resilience and Ecosystem Health.

Cyanobacterial taste-and-odor compounds and toxins pose persistent risks to drinking-water security and aquatic ecosystem health, yet monitoring and management capacity remains uneven across regions. Over the past decade, we have developed and applied an integrated framework in Chinese drinking-water sources to identify odor-producing cyanobacteria, link functional genes with their taxonomic hosts, and translate ecological knowledge into monitoring and operational management. Using single-cell epicPCR to connect the MIB synthase gene mic with cyanobacterial 16S rRNA genes, we identified major 2-methylisoborneol-producing cyanobacteria across diverse drinking-water systems and clarified how underwater light niches and eutrophication recovery shape odor risk. These results provide a scientific and technological basis for targeted risk surveillance and early-warning-oriented water-quality management.

We are now extending this experience to Lake Victoria through an international collaboration with the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute. In the Winam Gulf, Kenya, the project is combining field-based cyanobacterial risk assessment with the deployment of online monitoring equipment and the development of automated laboratory analysis capacity. This China-to-Africa transition links molecular identification, continuous monitoring and watershed-scale water-quality management in a lake that supports drinking water, fisheries and local livelihoods for millions of people. The work will provide scientific support for managing cyanobacterial water-quality risks in Lake Victoria and contribute to resilient blue economies in East Africa.

Keywords: cyanobacteria, drinking-water safety, 2-methylisoborneol, epicPCR, online monitoring, Lake Victoria.