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How water pollution can be detected faster
Currently, water samples have to be transported to a lab to reveal pollution. New sensor technology could provide answers immediately.
Extreme weather such as floods, droughts, and torrential rain affects the water quality in lakes, rivers, and coastal areas.
This creates significant challenges for ecosystems and water supplies. Pesticides bound to soil can quickly be washed into water sources.
Researchers now want to monitor this in a new way.
“Today’s monitoring systems aren’t equipped to detect rapid variations. This leaves critical gaps in environmental protection and public health preparedness. We want to develop an optical sensor system that can detect multiple pesticides in real time in both surface water and groundwater,” says Elizaveta Vereshchagina.
She is a researcher at SINTEF’s Department of Smart Sensors and Microtechnology.
The technology will provide insight into how extreme weather affects the presence of pesticides in water.
Engaged citizens in Denmark and Ireland helped researchers
When researchers want to examine water samples after heavy rainfall, they need to collect the samples immediately. This is logistically challenging.
The researchers therefore enlisted residents in Denmark and Ireland. They collect water samples during periods of significant rainfall.
These water samples are important for gaining insight into the relationship between extreme weather conditions and water quality.
“We’ve managed to measure different types of pesticides in water using SERS technology, which provides a fast response. The hope is that we can physically bring this type of sensor technology to water sources in the future,” says researcher Karolina Milenko.
SERS stands for Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy.
The method boosts light signals from molecules, making them easier to measure. SINTEF combines SERS with microfluidics.
This allows the samples to flow through tiny channels in a transparent material. Together, these methods provide fast and accurate analysis in real time.
“It can be challenging to distinguish between different pesticides at low concentrations in our datasets. This is partly due to different backgrounds in the samples,” says Vereshchagina.
The researchers are now working to achieve greater sensitivity through the use of AI.
Rapid changes should be measured in real time
Sudden changes in water quality threaten both biodiversity and the safety of drinking water.
Measuring varying substances and concentrations in water sources is challenging. The current solution is therefore to transport water samples to a lab for testing.
When natural disasters or extreme weather events occur, such changes can happen very quickly. Monitoring should therefore take place in real time.
“Imagine a landslide in a river high in a valley. This landslide can quickly contaminate the water in the river, but it's difficult to measure. We hope our technology can provide real-time measurements, showing how different pesticides move with the water,” says Professor Hans-Jørgen Albrechtsen.
He adds that it may then also be possible to implement preventive measures before the contaminated water causes too much damage.
In the future, the researchers hope they can develop a machine about the size of a suitcase that can be transported to different locations and take measurements directly in rivers, groundwater, and lakes.
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