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UFS researchers using mushrooms to clean contaminated water

28 August 2024 | Story André Damons | Photo Supplied

In an effort to alleviate the burden of water contamination, Prof Patricks Voua Otomo, Associate Professor in the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the University of the Free (UFS) is researching how mushrooms can be used to significantly reduce the toxicity of water.

The degradation of river systems in South Africa has been linked primarily to the inability of municipalities to properly treat wastewater. According to the 2022 Green Drop Report, out of the existing 850 wastewater systems across 90 municipalities, only 23 (or less than 3%) qualified for the Green Drop Certification. This underscores the depth and breadth of the wastewater treatment crisis in South Africa and its potential implications for human and environmental health.

In 2030, billions of people will still lack access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene services – the most basic human need for health and well-being. Target 6.1 of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – SDG 6 – aims to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all, while target 6.3 is also looking to improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimising release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe re-use globally by 2030.

These challenges inform Prof Voua Otomo’s research, which focuses on the drivers of river pollution in the Qwaqwa region, ways to mitigate/remediate their effects, and the development of simple and quick methods to assess water quality. His research, which is part of the UFS 2023 Impact Report, has drawn attention to localised incidences of terrestrial and aquatic contamination linked to sewage sludge management by local wastewater treatment plants.

Using mycofiltration to reclaim the quality of contaminated water

In Qwaqwa, wastewater treatment plants, however, are not the only source of river pollution, as a significant amount of river pollutants emanates directly from the communities that often dispose of their household waste directly into the waterways. This has led to unacceptable levels of pharmaceuticals such as biphenyl-4-ylacetic acid (an anti-inflammatory), efavirenz (an HIV medicine), and carbamazepine (an epilepsy medicine) ending up in rivers.

To attempt to reclaim the quality of contaminated water, ongoing research in Prof Voua Otomo’s laboratory involves the use of ‘mycofiltration’, i.e., the use of fungal mycelia for the purpose of water filtration. This relatively untapped eco-friendly technology is attracting more attention, yet its real merits are only now being established and documented scientifically.

“Various species of fungi have been explored in bioremediation studies, and those belonging to the Pleurotus genus (edible mushrooms) have demonstrated an exceptional ability in the biosorption of contaminants,” says Prof Voua Otomo.

In his field of research, Prof Voua Otomo says snails can be used as bioindicators (i.e., organisms used to assess the health of an environment or ecosystem, particularly by indicating the presence and impact of pollutants or other environmental stressors) or biomonitors (i.e., organisms or a biological systems used to assess the health of an environment, particularly by detecting changes in the levels of pollutants or other harmful substances).

“We designed a mycofilter made of mycelia from the mushroom species Pleurotus ostreatus and filtrated water contaminated with the organic insecticide imidacloprid and the inorganic chemical iron (III). The results showed that mycofiltration could remove up to 94% of iron (III) and 31% of imidacloprid.

“Mycofiltration works through a process called adsorption, which is the process where molecules, ions, or particles from a gas, liquid, or dissolved solid, stick to a surface. This happens when the adsorbate (the substance being adsorbed) attaches to the adsorbent (the surface it adheres to),” Prof Voua Otomo explains.

Mycofiltration viable and affordable for water remediation

This research is the brainchild of Sanele Mnkandla, a final-year PhD student in Prof Voua Otomo’s laboratory. “A few years ago, she suggested looking at mycofiltration as a means to improve the quality of contaminated water. Freshwater snails were the most suitable organisms to help assess the improvement of the water quality after mycofiltration,” explains Prof Voua Otomo.

According to him, they are currently exploring ways to upscale the mycofilter to improve the quality of larger bodies of water, including rivers. The duration of the process depends on the size of the filter, the amount of water to be filtered and the targeted chemicals. Bigger filters, explains Prof Voua Otomo, will filter larger amounts of water over a relatively longer time whereas smaller ones will be saturated quickly. The process could last from minutes to days.

“We have published a technical note on the topic and a proof of concept. We are currently testing this technology using wastewater effluent in the Qwaqwa region. We are also exploring local applications in rainwater harvesting.

“Mycofiltration is certainly a viable and affordable option for water remediation, which can find a wide range of applications in South Africa,” he says.

Watch the video below

Helisoma duryi freshwater snails exposed in non-mycofiltered ferric iron aqueous solution, mycofiltered ferric iron aqueous solution and tap water (control).

Mycofiltration of ferric iron aqueous solution.

Pleurotus ostreatus mycofilter. Thatching straw fully colonised by P. ostreatus mycelia (white).

News Archive

UFS responds to concerns around high costs of higher education

2015-10-15

Dear Students

UFS responds to concerns around high costs of higher education

There is an understandable and shared concern among students in the country around the high costs of higher education. As you know, this also is a matter of deep concern on our campuses, which the University of the Free State (UFS) has made a priority in discussions with student leaders - and through new strategies to relieve the burden of costs on poor students and their families. In fact, in the past two weeks, the UFS leadership has again engaged students on the matter of fees in the future.

This is what we have done so far. We have maintained our position as one of the universities with the lowest tuition fees in the country. As you would have seen from recent newspaper reports on the cost of a degree at various institutions over the past five years, the UFS has had consistently low fees. This is not an accident; both the University Council and the executive leadership of the UFS is of one mind that we must offer a high quality education at minimum cost to all our students, despite the rising costs of operating a large multi-campus university with 30 000 students. Our commitment to you is to continue to keep those costs to students as low as possible, without compromising on the quality of education.

In addition, we took a decision earlier this year to become the first university to drop application fees for first-year students. We are proud of that achievement, since so many students fall at this first hurdle as they contemplate post-school education and training. We also waived registration fees for postgraduate students and now Research Master’s and PhD students can study tuition free under certain conditions. We raised more than R60 million from the private sector to enable talented students, who do not receive NSFAS funding, to complete their degree studies at the UFS. We set aside some of the university’s own funds to enable even more students to access finance for their studies. And we now have a special office set aside to counsel and assist students to apply for more than one scholarship to support their studies. The university does not follow a policy of maximizing exclusions. It has endeavoured and succeeded to turn around the majority of its potential deregistration cases. During 2015 we had 2 700 students at the risk of being de-registered, but our serious efforts resulted in only over 200 instances of exclusion we could not mitigate. As is the practice for the past few years, these students’ debt for 2015 has been reversed.

But, we do not only look for funds from outside to support our students. Last year we set up a Staff Fund to which ordinary members of the academic and support staff can contribute from their own, and sometimes very modest, salaries to enable Kovsie students to finish their degrees. We have volunteers who work on the No Student Hungry (NSH) Bursary Programme to raise funds for students who cannot afford a regular meal. We have an open line to rural and township schools to nominate poor students with good results for support by the Rector’s Fund, and some of those students are now in their final year of studies. And many of our staff support individual students in their homes and with their families, without being asked to do so. This is what we call the Human Project and it remains central to the way in which we deal with students.

We will of course continue to make representation to government, the private sector, and individuals to increase funding, especially for first-generation students, and for families where more than one student is at university. We will continue to take to the road to raise funds from companies and foundations to finance our students. We will expand on-campus opportunities for limited working hours for students who wish to earn some money to support their studies. As we have said often before, no student who passes all their courses or modules will be turned away simply because they do not have the funds to study.

The UFS discusses and agrees to fee increases with our students well in advance of the next academic year. None of these decisions are taken without the agreement of the student leadership and thus far these engagements, while tough, have always been done in good faith and with the students’ interests at heart.

It is important for you to know that, with the declining government subsidy, in real terms, and the expanding needs of our students, we will not be able to keep the university running without fees - even though this source of revenue comes mainly through scholarships and bursaries. We need to compensate staff, purchase new library books and renew journal subscriptions (which is very difficult given the low value of the Rand), upgrade computers and software, pay rates and taxes, purchase laboratory equipment, pay the water and electricity bills, expand internet services, upgrade campus security, and hire more academics to keep class sizes reasonably small. It is important for you to know that the university has managed to avoid increasing student fees as a result of much higher municipal rates. Our lecturers are not the highest paid in the country and financially we run a tight ship. We consistently achieve unqualified audits and we are known to be one of the universities that manage its NSFAS contributions with great efficiency. We do this because of our commitment to ensure that our students are able to enjoy a high quality of education on a stable campus where there is a deep respect for all campus citizens.

Despite all these efforts, the most important message we wish to communicate, is that the door remains open for continued discussion with student leaders as we continue to find ways of keeping university education open and accessible to all qualifying students. At the same time, the UFS leadership is involved in discussions with government about how to best manage the escalating cost of higher education for our dents.

Thank you for your support and understanding at this time and be assured, once again, of our commitment to students as a matter of priority to the university leadership.

Best regards

Prof Jonathan Jansen
Vice-Chancellor and Rector

University of the Free State
19 October 2015

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