News

New Technologies could safeguard Ireland's drinking water and blue flag beaches
- Director of new DCU-based MESTECH research centre calls for adoption of continuous testing methods

30 March 2011

New technologies that can test water quality every ten minutes and upload the results to the web in real time need to be adopted as an early warning system against e-coli breakouts due to contaminated drinking water and to help preserve the quality of Irish bathing beaches, the director of the new MESTECH (Marine and Environmental Sensing Technology Hub) research centre at Dublin City University has said.

Prof Fiona Regan said the technologies now exist to replace the current method of spot sampling (every few weeks) with a system that would test water quality every ten minutes and be uploaded to the Web in real time. MESTECH, the first research centre of its kind in Ireland, is involved in developing a new generation of sensing systems. The centre was officially launched today by Yvonne Shields, the director of strategic planning and development in the Marine Institute, which has provided it with €2.4 million in funding in 2007 as a Beaufort Award under Sea-Change the ongoing Sea Change national strategy for marine research, knowledge and innovation.

Prof Regan said that is now possible to provide an effective early warning system for e-coli contamination of drinking water which would help prevent gastroenteritis outbreaks and help source causes of pollution. It would be equally effective for monitoring Ireland’s 74 Blue Flag beaches and other bathing areas.

“These new technologies would enable Ireland to adopt a system that was not only widely distributed by provided continuous measurement in real time,” said Prof Regan. “This would provide a far more accurate and up to date water monitoring system than the current procedure of having to physically not go out, take your samples and come back to the lab in order to measure it and get a result.”

Prof Regan said that the centre was working on developing a just such a continual sensing bacterial test. In the meantime, she said, technologies currently being tested in Poolbeg Marina to monitor water every 15 minutes, could be adapted as early warning mechanisms for pollution.

Just as with new smart metering technologies in the home, environmental monitoring should be in real-time and instantly available.

“It is the same technology. You are talking about generic technology. It is your sensor, it is your communication and it is your routing to the web.”

She added that she expected the new MESTECH centre to continue to work with industry and also to assist in environmental policy formation by changing (informing) current legislation on doing water quality checks.

“We are working with the Marine Institute, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Public Works to show them the advantages of continuous monitoring,” she said.