Surface Water Analysis
Analyze and monitor fecal contamination in surface water in 15 minutes.
Surface Water Quality Monitoring
Surface water is an essential source of drinking water, also serving people as bathing and recreational water. Its microbiological quality is of the essence as people get in direct touch, thus a probable fecal or microbiological contamination is affecting directly people’s health.
To know the bacterial contamination of surface water in almost real-time means to protect people’s health and environment:
- Continuous and long-term monitoring of fecal contamination in both fresh and saline waters
- Analysis of diurnal fluctuations of fecal contamination
- Correlation of microbial contamination with environmental events such as CSO (Combined Sewer Overflow) or stormwater events
- Early warnings in case of contamination events
- Enabling short-term opening/closing of beaches and other swimming waters
- Preventing water suppliers from fines and penalties due to exceeding threshold values
- Surface water mapping of lakes, rivers, sea, along beaches, shelters, etc.
Benefits of the ColiMinder
REAL-TIME WARNINGS
In case of contamination events, to enable quick reaction like closing beaches
IDENTIFY SOURCES OF CONTAMINATION
by high-frequency measurements and 15 minutes for results
LEARN ABOUT THE DYNAMICS OF CONTAMINATION LEVELS
The result timelines (microbiological activity, transmission, and intrinsic fluorescence of the sample) carry important additional information about the dynamics of your system
SAFEGUARD YOUR WATER QUALITY
At raw water intakes
SCAN YOUR BATHING AREA QUICKLY
To ensure safe bathing and recreational activities
AVOID CONTAMINATION EVENTS
By receiving near real-time warnings in case of contamination events
The ColiMinder bacterial analyzer can be installed at any location for real-time surface water quality monitoring.
Beach Water Quality Monitoring
Sea Water Quality Monitoring
Raw Water Quality Monitoring
Well and Groundwater Quality Monitoring
Lake Water Quality Monitoring
Stream Water Quality Monitoring
River Water Quality Monitoring
CSO monitoring
EXAMPLE OF RESULT TIMELINE
produced by the ColiMinder showing bacterial contamination in metal working fluid production.
The ColiMinder measures the specific metabolic (enzymatic) activity of the target organisms present in the sample.
The measured value provides information about the energy turnover of living organisms in the sample. Living organisms need energy, which they gain through their metabolism, so the metabolic activity reflects the energetic turnover of the existing microorganisms.
The measured activity directly indicates the faecal or microbiological contamination level of the water.
ColiMinder can automatically monitor any process step – critical control points – in water treatment processes, bottled water production, wastewater water treatment and discharge, industrial and process water treatment and discharge, providing a direct visualization of microbial dynamics of your processes. It also monitors any type of surface water, bathing and recreational water and raw water, be it fresh or saline water, providing a direct visualization of microbial dynamics of the respective water body.
The timeline displays any change in microbial contamination, providing precise and valuable information that was previously unavailable.
Since the results of the ColiMinder are available in near real time, microbiological water quality is now available as an evidence-based decision parameter. In addition, real-time alerts can be sent when defined bacterial contamination limits are exceeded.
The ColiMinder reliably detects any type of contamination, whether it is of fecal or microbial origin.
Different add-on modules are available to ensure stable and reliable sampling and results, even in harsh environmental conditions.
The measured enzymatic activity of the sample provides a direct answer to the questions: “how high is the faecal contamination of the sample?” and “how high is the microbiological contamination of the sample?”
Depending on the reagent used, the measurement results are specific for the corresponding target organism.
The results not only provide direct quantitative information about the microbial contamination of the product, but shape and course of the measurement timeline also contain valuable information about the dynamics of the microbiological load and thus allow conclusions to be drawn about the causes of changes. Depending on the reagent used, the measurement results are specific for the corresponding target organism.
A recent scientific study published in Water Research shows that the ColiMinder is the most sensitive instrument available on the market for monitoring microbial quality of water. Please see: Favere, J., Waegenaar, F., Boon, N., & De Gusseme, B. (2021). Online microbial monitoring of drinking water: How do different techniques respond to contaminations in practice?, published in Water Research Journal.
The reliability of the ColiMinder has been demonstrated in several installations where the devices have been providing reliable measurement results in continuous operation since 2015.
Maintenance:
Thanks to the sophisticated system for fully automatic cleaning and calibration, the maintenance effort is limited to refilling the consumables. Replacement of the silicone hoses is recommended every 2 years, otherwise no maintenance is required.
The ColiMinder instruments measure absolutely stable, no manual calibration is necessary as the instruments calibrate themselves automatically at regular intervals.
The ColiMinder can measure any type of sample without pre-treatment.
It has no problem with suspended solids or turbid samples. Even fluctuating background fluorescence has no effect on the measurement result.
It has an IP65 protected housing and can measure in the 0°C to 40°C temperature range.
The ColiMinder provides operational monitoring as recommended by the WHO, the EU Drinking Water Directive, and others.
Real-time measurement of current microbiological quality enables rapid response and correction, so the ColiMinder helps you to meet specified limits at the lowest cost and with the highest level of safety.
A correlation between standard lab results and ColiMinder results can be established and used internally but the system is not intended to replace compliance testing.
In contrast to classical culture-based laboratory methods, which are based on the cultivation of bacteria, the enzymatic measurement method of the ColiMinder is based on the direct measurement of the metabolic activity of the target organisms. There is therefore no direct and generally valid conversion between the two methods.
In general, however, a correlation table can be created through comparative measurements, which can then be used for conversion.
