Water quality monitoring of biological contaminants -- rapid, on-site detection technologies

Access to a safe drinking water supply is a critical issue in a number of places across the globe. Conventional water quality monitoring technologies are slow, often taking at least two days to produce results. In recent years, there has been extensive research into emerging technologies that provid...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Shimizu, Kristen N. M.
Format: Others
Published: Scholarly Commons 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/824
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1823&context=uop_etds
Description
Summary:Access to a safe drinking water supply is a critical issue in a number of places across the globe. Conventional water quality monitoring technologies are slow, often taking at least two days to produce results. In recent years, there has been extensive research into emerging technologies that provide real-time results; however, there is no technology which detects all classes of biological contaminants. Biological contaminants are 5 particularly difficult to detect and quantify due to low concentrations typically present. It is not feasible to identify all biological contaminants present in a water supply; therefore, it is necessary to determine which are of highest concern based factors such as health significance, infectivity, and prevalence. The intent of this research is to evaluate microbiological detection methods and technologies based on their applicability for continuous real-time detection. This research will complement current research on biological water quality monitoring technologies for use in developing regions or in the event of an emergency and will provide suggestions for future research efforts.