Grant: Alliance Grants

Common to many rural jurisdictions, but particularly so in Maritime Canada, a majority of the relatively dispersed non-urban residents rely on privately owned and maintained dug or drilled wells as low population densities dictate municipal systems are not feasible. Unfortunately, few of these privately-owned wells, in the absence of an obvious threat or acute health outcome, routinely assess chemical or microbial exceedances relative to water quality guidelines. This is unfortunate as in Nova Scotia, 33% of wells have health-based exceedances in one or mor chemical contaminants, with an estimated 25-40% of private wells having fecal coliform contamination. The significance of this contaminated water is revealed by epidemiological studies demonstrating elevated body burdens of lead, arsenic, and uranium. With Industrial partner Drinkable, our team is developing an at home testing kit for well owners, which may also have application in the aquaculture sector, based on a single-use miniaturized sensor array with results conveyed to the users cell-phone. The array will be comprised of ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) for detection of dissolved metal species, with field-effect transistors (FETs) for detection of lysed bacterial cell constituents. Water quality parameters for each analyte will be reported both numerically and expressed relative to Canadian drinking water guidelines, but also represented simply in a colour-coded manner indicating whether each analyte is below, at, or above recommended drinking water concentrations. Analytes exceeding guidelines will prompt the user to contact nearby water quality laboratories and/or Public Health agencies for additional information and confirmatory testing. Although homeowner water testing will be a primary market segment, freshwater aquaculture systems similarly require real-time water quality testing so Drinkable will test-market the water quality sensors with aquaculture facilities to gauge user experience, test accuracy, and cost-effectiveness relative to current industry practices.