Real-time wastewater monitoring Researchers have developed a prototype device that can monitor in real-time wastewater for specific contaminants. Climate Change and Environment © Olga Korostynsk Contamination of water sources is one of the major environmental problems of our time. EU legislation has been passed to address certain common contaminants (phosphorus, ammonia, fatty acids) but water quality monitoring is currently infrequent, insensitive and costly. The EU-funded 'Multi sensor fusion for real-time monitoring of waste water quality' (WATER-SPOTCHECK) project was set up to develop a multi-sensor monitoring device to address this problem. A number of different electromagnetic wave sensors were developed and tested for the device. The envisioned prototype could detect and measure concentration of specific contaminants in wastewater in real-time. Researchers also developed and tested approaches to enable continuous monitoring. A laboratory-scale prototype was built and validated against an array of potential organic and inorganic pollutants as suggested by industry and specific end-user requests. Once tested on a small scale, a bespoke prototype was designed and installed at a wastewater facility in the United Kingdom. The prototype was run in parallel to conventional water monitoring tools, and was demonstrated to be equally sensitive, without the 14-day processing period usually required. WATER-SPOTCHECK demonstrated that real-time monitoring of contaminants in wastewater is a feasible and attainable goal. The project produced a number of scientific papers as well as several patents to cover commercialisation in the United Kingdom and the United States. Keywords Real-time, wastewater, water monitoring, contaminants, environmental problem, water quality, multi-sensor monitoring, electromagnetic wave sensors
