Mak dons designs instant water testing kit for feacal matter

Oct 16, 2021

Drinking water contaminated with human and animal faeces is consumed by at least two billion people worldwide.

An inline fluorimeter being used to test the quality of a municipal piped water supply from a Chalk aquifer. (Photo by Agnes Nantambi)

Agnes Nantambi
Journalist @New Vision

Makerere University Researchers in collaboration with the University College of London (UCL) and British Geological Survey (BGS) have designed a new water testing kit that offers rapid monitoring of faecal matter contamination in drinking water.

The new fluorescence spectroscopy technology TLF/HLF Fluorimeter, according to Dr Robinah Kulabako, a Co-author from Makerere University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is reliable in monitoring the risk of contamination in drinking water because it gives immediate results.

This according to her, enables global communities to respond rapidly and help reduce exposure to waterborne diseases.

“Drinking water contaminated with human and animal faeces is consumed by at least two billion people worldwide. This pollution is responsible for outbreaks of waterborne diseases that remain common, even in high-income countries.

For decades, standard approaches to test water supplies have used bacteriological indicators of faecal contamination, most commonly Thermos Tolerant Coliform bacteria known as TTCs,” she said.

However, Kulabako said that analysis of these indicators requires the use of sterile equipment and culturing techniques, which practically limit the frequency of water sampling.

“Time lags of 1 or 2 days before results are returned mean that people can already have been exposed to the faecal contamination, “she said.

Dr Kulabako, while unveiling the research explained that the rapid, robust method of monitoring the risk posed by faecal contamination has enormous implications in Uganda not only for untreated water sources such as wells and springs thereby but also for low-cost, continuous monitoring of piped water supplies.

The Principal Investigator, Dr James Sorensen from the UCL and BGS said that “the ability to test in-situ fluorescence as an indicator of faecal contamination risk in a wide range of environments and conditions, has greatly improved both the evidence base for this method of water quality monitoring and understanding of what fluorescence observed in water means.

The research, according to him was funded by the Africa Capacity Building Initiative under the AfriWatSan Project with support from the Royal Society, DFID and The Natural Environment Research Council to help Institutions involved in regular water quality monitoring, Researchers and Communities not only utilising untreated water sources but also piped water.

According to Kulabako, the greatest public health risk relates to the consumption of water contaminated with human and animal faeces to which at least 2 billion are currently exposed globally.

“The traditional methods of assessment of Faecal Indicator Organisms (FIOs) deliver results after exposure has occurred. Moreover, FIO analysis requires well-trained personnel, restricting the extent of nationally representative surveys, and because no result is provided in-situ at the source, communication of risks and behavioural change is prevented, “she said.

In Uganda, about 20% of the population lack access to safe water and more than 80% are with unimproved sanitation facilities. That case exposes a big portion of the citizens to unsafe water where the majority in Kampala live in peri-urban areas using groundwater as an important source of water supply.

In Uganda, monitoring was done in Lukaya Town Council Area which established that all water sources in Lukaya were contaminated

Co-author Jacintha Nayebare, a PhD student at Makerere University said, “In-situ fluorescence spectroscopy, allows rapid feedback to consumers that could reduce exposure to faecally contaminated drinking water.

The team, according to Nayebale, examined changes in water quality over 14 months from 40 sources supplied by groundwater in Lukaya Town.

The results show not only that in-situ fluorescence provides an instantaneous measure of faecal contamination but also shows that it is a more reliable measure of the risk of faecal contamination than TTCs.

According to Kulabako, Microbial contamination remains the primary concern in drinking water in all countries across the world with the current approaches being limited in their ability to protect public health from the microbial contamination of drinking water.

The World Health Organisation and UNICEF JMP report that 83% of Ugandan households consume water that is considered basic or lower which is not necessarily free of faecal contamination.

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