Human Practices
Our impact on the community

Background & field research in “El Salto”

Contamination of water bodies is a severe and urgent problem in our country and, in our home state of Jalisco, the Santiago River is one of the most important tributaries in western Mexico but also one of the most polluted in the country (Martínez-González & Hernández, 2009). The Santiago River crosses several municipalities in the state, and Guadalajara and surrounding areas receive between 70% and 80% of its water from this river (Barkin, 2006).

There is evidence that the river water and sludge contains significant levels of lead, mercury, chromium, cobalt, arsenic, fecal coliforms, and carcinogens such as benzene and furan. Research indicates that prolonged exposure to and consumption of these compounds causes damage to the respiratory, digestive, and central nervous system (McCulligh, 2007). Despite the evidence of this being a human risk, however, locally, no significant research has been carried out to quantify contaminants and determine the risks of long-term exposure and consumption.

Due to the lack of action by our authorities , we strongly believe that the development of an accessible and easy-to-use device to detect emerging contaminants and heavy metals in water bodies can contribute to the well-being of our community.

Close up picture of how contaminated the water of the Santiago river is. (March 25, 2023)
Picture of the cascade “El salto de Juanacatlán” (March 25, 2023)
Picture of how contaminated the water of the Santiago River is. (March 25, 2023)
The team members at the cascade “El salto de Juanacatlán” viewpoint. This cascade is greatly affected by toxic waste. (March 25, 2023)

🎯 General and specific objectives

The general objective is to approach a community of people that are directly affected by the emerging contaminants in water so that we can design our project based directly on their needs and the impact it can have.

To carry out more extensive research we created specific objectives that should be addressed.

  1. Carry out a study of what is and what is not known about the problem of emerging contaminants in the community of “El Salto” as well as the Guadalajara metropolitan zone (ZMG) through a survey questionnaire.
  2. Hold interviews with stakeholders and technical experts to obtain feedback on our project.
  3. Distribute a brochure to the inhabitants of “El Salto” providing information about synthetic biology, emerging contaminants, the water pollution situation in Mexico and the fundamentals of our project.

🔎 Identification of variables to study

  • Specific needs of the target audience.
  • Ways to tailor the project to the target audiences' needs
  • Cultural, economic and social context of the audience

📏 Sample delimitation

The community of El Salto was our primary target because the Santiago River flows directly through there. We did not set a specific age group or gender, because pollution can affect everyone.

Survey with users

The team members in the main square of El Salto interviewing a citizen. (March 25, 2023)

Breakdown of survey responses in El Salto (graphs)

In addition to the interviews with open questions, surveys were carried out with people in El Salto.

It was found that 75% of the people surveyed knew of someone who had become ill or died from using water from the Santiago River. Additionally, it was found that 70% of the population does not know the risks of using water with emerging contaminants, 65% do not know what contaminants the Santiago River contains, 90% do not know what emerging contaminants are, and 70% do not know how to properly dispose of expired medicines. All this leads us to conclude that there is a problem of misinformation on issues related to water pollution and the proper disposal of waste. Finally, 90% of users haven't ever used any method to detect pollutants in water, and 95% of them showed interest in having access to a device which detects contaminants in water. This confirms that our project would be well received and useful for the target population.

Figure 1. Do you know of someone who has gotten sick from exposure to the river's water? Affirmative responses are displayed in blue, and negative responses in red.
Figure 2. Are you aware of the contaminants present in the Santiago River? Affirmative responses are displayed in blue, and negative responses in red.
Figure 3. Do you know what emerging contaminants are? Affirmative responses are displayed in blue, and negative responses in red.
Figure 4. Are you aware of the risks related to consuming polluted water with pharmaceuticals and other emerging contaminants? Affirmative responses are displayed in red and negative responses in blue
Figure 5. Have you used any device to detect contaminants in water? Affirmative responses are displayed in blue and negative responses in red.
Figure 6. Do you know the correct way to dispose of expired medication? Affirmative responses are displayed in blue and negative responses in red.
Figure 7. Would you use a device that allowed you to detect contaminants in water? Affirmative responses are displayed in blue and negative responses in red.

Brochure - Inform the people

Upon finishing interviewing the inhabitants of El Salto and carrying out the surveys there, some of them were given a brochure containing information about our project's vision and mission, the situation of the Santiago River, the role of synthetic biology and information on emerging contaminants. This was done to raise awareness about these issues and allow people to take into account the problem of water pollution.

Breakdown of survey responses in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara (graphs)

As the Santiago River passes through “El Salto”, its inhabitants are directly affected. However, we also decided to do a survey of people in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara to compare the responses of people who are directly affected on a day-to-day basis with people who may not be so aware of it.

In the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, also known as the ZMG, 90% of respondents know of a case of someone who has gotten ill from drinking or using water from the Santiago River, as shown in Figure 8.


Figure 8. Do you know somebody who has gotten sick from drinking or using water from the Santiago River? Affirmative responses are displayed in blue and negative responses in red.

The previous statistic showed us that people knew of someone who had gotten sick from drinking the water from the Santiago River. However, Figure 9 shows that the majority of people did not know what each of the different contaminants, such as pharmaceuticals, did. It was shown that 33.3% could not name the side effects caused by emerging contaminants.

Figure 9. Do you know the effects and risks associated with consuming water polluted with emerging contaminants? Affirmative responses are displayed in blue and negative responses in red.

According to Figure 10, 72.7% of the people surveyed in the ZMG do not know what emerging pollutants are, and many dispose of them in waterways without even conducting a proper investigation. It is therefore extremely important to raise awareness and help society understand how important it is to dispose of materials used at home, by industry or by the government.


Figure 10. Do you know what emerging contaminants are? Affirmative responses are displayed in blue and negative responses in red.

Similarly, Figure 11 shows that 83.3% of the respondents mentioned that not only do they not know what emerging contaminants are, they do not know what contaminants are present in the Santiago River today.

Figure 11. Are you aware of the contaminants present in the Santiago River? Affirmative responses are displayed in blue and negative responses in red.

Figure 12 shows that 66.7% of the respondents did not know how to properly dispose of pharmaceuticals; only 33.3% knew some way to do so. However, many only had an idea of some products such as oil. What is really needed is for people to understand that by making a slight change in their lifestyles, water pollution could change drastically.

Figure 12. shows that 66.7% of the respondents did not know how to properly dispose of pharmaceuticals; only 33.3% knew some way to do so. However, many only had an idea of some products such as oil. What is really needed is for people to understand that by making a slight change in their lifestyles, water pollution could change drastically

According to Figure 13, 99.3% of people have never used a device that detects contaminants in water. In Mexico, the main problem with water detectors is that you need an expert to help you use them and they are usually expensive. That is why as a team we are looking for a solution to that.


Figure 13. Have you used a device to detect the presence of contaminants in water? Affirmative responses are displayed in blue and negative responses in red.

Figure 14 shows that although most of the respondents had never used a water detection device, if given the opportunity, 93.3% of the respondents answered that they would use it to detect contaminants in the water they use on a daily basis.

Figure 14. Would you use a device that allowed you to detect contaminants in water? Affirmative responses are displayed in blue and negative responses in red.

Interview with scientist

Feedback is the fuel that drives better performance.
-Eric Parsloe

Effective feedback provides valuable information about the performance of scientific projects. Peer review is the process of submitting scientific work to experts in the same field, which helps to improve the quality of manuscripts and provide suggestions for the project.

Several academic experts were contacted to get feedback on our project. The following is what we received from them:

👨🏻‍🔬 Interview with Dr. Luis Joel Figueroa Yáñez

Dr. Luis Joel Figueroa Yáñez has a PhD in Biological Sciences with a specialization in Synthetic Biology. He is a senior researcher at CIATEJ in Zapopan, Mexico and is currently working on genome editing using CRISPR-Cas9 on yeast, plants, and human cell lines.

He told us that the food industry could be interested in this type of detectors. He recommends that we start with computational simulations, believing that we could save time, effort, and resources. Additionally, he told us that it would be a good idea to carry out detection kinetics, to see how the molecules interact together and if there are better options than the ones we have selected. Finally, he concludes that a good combination of bioinformatics and simulation would be best for our project.

Interview with Dr. Luis Joel Figueroa Yáñez so that he could provide us feedback about our project. (May 31, 2023)

👨🏻‍🔬 Interview with Dr. Luis Alberto Arellano García

Dr. Luis Alberto Arellano García has a PhD in Chemical Engineering and 15 years of experience in research related to biological wastewater treatment and biofuel production. He is currently working on the microbial degradation of emerging contaminants in municipal wastewater treatment systems in Mexico, within CIATEJ in Guadalajara.

He told us that the project we want to develop is a good idea because it would be a good alternative to the expensive detection equipment that exists today. He believes that it is necessary to carry out more studies on the consequences that emerging contaminants have on human health, since this is a subject that hasn't been widely studied. Regarding our device, he believes that it would be of great use to the government and of interest to companies involved in the commercialization of rapid screening tests.

Picture of the team with Dr. Luis Alberto Arellano García so that he could provide feedback. (June 8, 2023)

👨‍🔬 International Feedback: Visit of Dr. Pablo I. Nikel from DTU

In February we hosted Dr. Pablo I. Nikel, an expert in Synthetic Biology of bacterial metabolism from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, to give us feedback about our project. The meeting was in person at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, campus Guadalajara, and it was also remote for other three iGEM teams from Tec campus Monterrey, Chihuahua and Estado de México. Our aim was to have the opportunity to interact with Dr. Nikel and share our project pipeline and future perspectives. He listened carefully to each project and gave assertive feedback with valuable suggestions within his area of expertise, highlighting areas of improvement and encouraging us to achieve our objectives.


Picture of the team with Dr. Pablo. I. Nickel from DTU (February 17 2023)

Conclusion

Field research is one of the pillars of our project, as we have been able to quantify the impact and social scope through strategic surveys, where we have observed that the people affected by the contamination of water bodies are interested in having a device that detects contamination, and that a significant percentage of the affected population is aware of the risks of this problem and knows people affected by it, giving the project a high impact perspective.

Conducting censuses of the affected communities helps us to give direction and purpose to scientific projects that seek to generate solutions to problems such as our "contamination of water bodies".

Picture of the team members in the main square of El Salto, in which the surveys and interviews to the community were performed (March 25 2023).

To help future iGEM teams, we also created a guide called "Research Planning Guide 101," which provides recommendations and steps for conducting in-depth field research like we did.


📋 Sidenote:

So that the team goes in accordance with iGEM's values regarding privacy, whenever we took a photo or interviewed someone, they were asked for their consent and if they agreed to it.

  1. Barkin, D. (2006). La gestión del agua urbana en México: Retos, debates y bienestar [Urban water management in Mexico: Challenges, debates and well-being]. Guadalajara, Jalisco: Universidad de Guadalajara.
  2. McCulligh, C. (2007). Mártires del Río Santiago: Informe sobre las violaciones al derecho a la salud y a un medio ambiente sano en Juanacatlán y El Salto, Jalisco, México [Report on violations of the right to health and a healthy environment in Juanacatlán and El Salto, Jalisco, Mexico]. http://hdl.handle.net/11117/5338
  3. Martínez González, P., & Hernández, E. (2009). Impactos de la contaminación del Río Santiago en el bienestar de los habitantes de El Salto, Jalisco [Impacts of pollution of the Santiago River on the well-being of the inhabitants of El Salto, Jalisco]. Espacio Abierto, 18(4), 709-729.