Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Design a smart system for pathogens detection in bathing waters

People Involved

Project Description

Monitoring the quality of recreational waters such as beaches and rivers is becoming a global concern to protect human health (e.g. the EU Bathing Water Directive (BWD) in Europe). In Scotland, water quality at 86 designated bathing water sites is assessed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) from May to September; weekly assessments measure current water quality by monitoring levels of bacteria present in samples taken from these sites. However, methods for detecting pathogens are very difficult as samples need to be collected from several locations which is time consuming and leads to pathogens losses. In addition, the detection is performed in laboratory which is subject to transportation and human errors. Therefore, authorities responsible for these bathing waters require new tools to monitor levels of bacteria in real-time. The aim of this project is to develop a portable, easy to use, low cost system for rapid, on site and simultaneous detection of pathogens. The system is based on microfluidic, microscope camera and Wi-Fi technologies to detect pathogens with key pathogen of concern (e.g. E. coli) in bathing waters. The proposed system has a potential to be installed in situ to better inform authorities for public health decisions.

Project Acronym SEPA project
Status Project Live
Funder(s) Data Lab
Scottish Environment Protection Agency
Value £38,822.00
Project Dates Apr 1, 2019 - Sep 30, 2025



You might also like

Parasites in the deep Nov 1, 2014 - Jan 31, 2016
Parasites collected from different fish species (e.g. Barathrites iris) from the New Hebrides trench and the Kermadec trench will be identified on a morphological and molecular level.

Oral Infestation Challenge Jun 20, 2016 - Aug 5, 2016
Live Atlantic salmon will be experimentally infested with live anisakis simplex. The experiment will run for 35 days, and at certain sampling points, salmon will be euthanised and blood will be taken. This will then be used for cytometric analyses of... Read More about Oral Infestation Challenge.

Exploring the causes of Red Vent Syndrome in wild Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) from coastal waters around Scotland Jul 1, 2016 - Jun 30, 2017
This research will make direct comparisons of ?13C and ?15N isotope values from muscle tissue between populations of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) returning to the North, East and West coasts of Scotland. This work will investigate whether returning... Read More about Exploring the causes of Red Vent Syndrome in wild Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) from coastal waters around Scotland.

The juvenile fish fauna of a Kenyan mangrove forest: exploring new tools to understand growth and condition. Aug 1, 2016 - Dec 31, 2019
The project will work with a new PhD student who is collecting regular samples of juvenile fish from the Vanga mangrove forest in southern Kenya. The work will focus on two areas:
1) Describing the metazoan parasite fauna of the mangrove fish commun... Read More about The juvenile fish fauna of a Kenyan mangrove forest: exploring new tools to understand growth and condition..