Continuous and fully automated bacterial counter for drinking water. Project name: BactoSense.

• Research unit: INNOSUISSE
• Project number: 16439.2 PFNM-NM

Short description (German)

Continuous and fully automated bacterial counter for drinking water. Project name: BactoSense.

Short description (English)

Continuous and fully automated bacterial counter for drinking water. Project name: BactoSense.

Abstract (German)

Today, the microbiological quality of drinking water is still assessed with standard cell cultures on Petri plates. Sampling is performed manually and requires 1-3 days of incubation, far too long to prevent the distribution of drinking water in the event of a contamination. A new detection principle based on research work done by the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG) was recently introduced by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) in the ¿Swiss Food Manual (SFM)¿. The proposed project aims to develop an instrument fully compliant with the requirement of the method No. 333.1. The instrument will even go beyond this regulation as it will perform measurements online, continuously and completely automatically, allowing a tight monitoring of the microbiological drinking water quality. This new instrument will reduce the measurement time from days to only 15 minutes, hence drastically increasing the safety for consumers.

Abstract (English)

Today, the microbiological quality of drinking water is still assessed with standard cell cultures on Petri plates. Sampling is performed manually and requires 1-3 days of incubation, far too long to prevent the distribution of drinking water in the event of a contamination. A new detection principle based on research work done by the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG) was recently introduced by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) in the ¿Swiss Food Manual (SFM)¿. The proposed project aims to develop an instrument fully compliant with the requirement of the method No. 333.1. The instrument will even go beyond this regulation as it will perform measurements online, continuously and completely automatically, allowing a tight monitoring of the microbiological drinking water quality. This new instrument will reduce the measurement time from days to only 15 minutes, hence drastically increasing the safety for consumers.