On-site Solution to Detect E.coli in Polluted Water for Saving More Lives

Do-yeon Pi of PiQuant in the Republic of Korea is developing a low-cost spectroscopic device and monitoring system, the Water Scanner, that can be nationally deployed to rapidly detect and map Escherichia coli contamination in drinking water in low-resource settings. Water pollution causes up to 90% of diarrheal diseases, which kill 500,000 children under the age of five each year. Water quality is currently measured using spectroscopic devices that are expensive and time-consuming. In Phase I, they developed a new device incorporating a noise-canceling algorithm that can accurately measure water quality within an hour at 1% of the cost of traditional devices. They also set up a GIS-based monitoring system to create water quality maps that enable a rapid response to any contamination. In Phase II, they will finalize the development and validation of their technology, and work towards commercialization in India and Vietnam.