In the shadow of escalating climate change and its profound impact on global water resources, this perspective addresses a critical yet overlooked conduit of environmental and public health risks: the infiltration of cyanotoxins and cyanobacterial-associated antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) into the human food chain through the irrigation of food crops with recycled wastewater. It gives an opportunity to demonstrate how a fundamental research topic can be aligned with a critical global application. The research’s overall goal is to enable the safe reuse of vital water resources for food production, contributing to global food security in an era of climate uncertainty.
With nearly 800 million people currently facing hunger and projections indicating a need to increase global food production by 70% by 2050 to feed over 10 billion inhabitants, the stakes have never been higher. Innovative water conservation techniques, including the reuse of treated wastewater, hold the promise of enhancing conventional food production by up to 24%. However, ~89% of global wastewater, amounting to ~360 teraL/year is currently underutilised due to contamination from cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs), which produce cyanotoxins and harbour ARGs, thereby presenting a dual threat to environmental and public health.
The research that will be outlined is poised to confront these challenges head-on by exploring novel approaches to cyanoHAB management, particularly through the application of targeted oxidation treatments. By investigating the interactions between cyanobacteria and their typically heterotrophic epibionts (microbes that live in the extracellular polymeric substance phycosphere zone of host cyanobacterial cells), and the effects of oxidative stress on this microbial community, we aim to provide avenues for more effective cyanoHAB treatment strategies that consider their complex ecology beyond the limitations of current methods.