Water is becoming increasingly scarce and its quality is also a growing concern. Technology and regulations will continue to play a key role in bettering water quality and promoting water reuse. While increasing application of regulations is improving water quality in countries that apply them, there are still big challenges to be solved. A big one is the increasing presence of micropollutants (MP) and their combined molecules in discharged and drinking water not being properly monitor nor treated. These MPs are familiar to us by their end-products such as beta-blockers, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, fertilizers, insecticides, artificial sweeteners, plastics or detergents. Biological MP (such as pharma products) can be blamed for spreading antibiotic resistance in organisms: the UN estimates deaths from drug-resistant infections will rise to 10 million by 2050.
Our project, ToxMate, proposes a tool that does real-time and continuous monitoring of micropollutants in water. The tool monitors the behaviour of 3 types of invertebrates and, using a patented algorithm, allows the fastest analysis (less than 6 minutes) on water toxicity, including MP, in water treatment plants. This is a huge step forward towards controlling water micropollutants as permits water treatment plant management to optimize their water processes for properly treating MP, improving the discharged water quality, allowing water reuse and reducing OPEX.