Monitoring water toxicity in real time
Urbanisation, agricultural development and industry are all associated with wastewater pollution. Micropollutants come from a range of sources, including industrial plants, pesticides, and cosmetics, solvents, detergents and medicines from urban areas. Water scarcity is one of the main drivers of pollution levels, which can increase the impacts on human health and the environment. Most current methods are based on water sampling and lab analysis, which is inefficient and can be ineffective. “Over 200 000 compounds are present in water as micropollutants,” says Didier Neuzeret, CEO at ViewPoint. “Analytical methods are thus ineffective for monitoring all of them,” he explains. The EU-funded ToxMate project developed a new water quality testing system that monitors the impacts of micropollutants on the movement of aquatic invertebrates. This provides information on pollution levels in real time, and the success of mitigation efforts. “ToxMate can be used in wastewater treatment plants either to check water before release, or to control the efficiency of advanced treatments, such as ozonation, and active carbon,” adds Neuzeret, ToxMate project coordinator. “Its high sensitivity makes it possible to use it for drinking water plants to evaluate raw water or to address issues during specific processes.”
Focusing on aquatic invertebrates
ToxMate is a water quality biomonitoring station, which assesses the impacts of pollutants on three species of aquatic invertebrates. The reactions provide reliable indicators of the level of water pollution. “The use of macro-invertebrates allows a detection as soon as the compounds stress them, which is recognised through their behaviour,” says Neuzeret. The three species used (gammarus, leeches, aquatic snails) are well known to ecotoxicologists, which widens the applications of ToxMate. “As soon as they become uncomfortable with the quality of water, between 2 and 10 minutes, they express a change of behaviour and we can rapidly alert the plant manager to trigger mitigation plans,” Neuzeret explains.
Real-time monitoring in real-world trials
Through the ToxMate project, Neuzeret and his team could install and test the system in various locations and use cases. This included two industrial sites (chemistry and textiles); one test of drinking water; and another in an urban wastewater treatment plant, which was equipped with advanced treatments. Another trial was run at a very large wastewater treatment plant in Paris. “All those demonstrators showed the efficiency of our system, and most of them have decided to buy a system to include it in their processes,” notes Neuzeret.
Working to improve water quality across Europe
Despite difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ToxMate team was able to set up demonstration sites generating direct sales to European cities such as Versailles, Chartres and Chambery. “Additionally ToxMate has been referenced as a valuable solution by big players such as Saur, Suez and Veolia,” Neuzeret remarks. ToxMate has been on the market since the end of 2021, for territories including France and Switzerland. The team is now hoping to expand into China, Germany and the United States. “ToxMate is a validated system for various applications addressing micropollutant monitoring in water. It is a powerful tool for managing growing issues connected with climate change and water scarcity,” concludes Neuzeret.
Keywords
ToxMate, water, waste, improve, quality, aquatic, vertebrates, micropollutants, sampling