Real-time sensing guarantees water quality across the supply network
Having successful development of an award-winning technology that uses ozonation to effectively and cheaply clean water, water treatment innovator Aqua21 has developed sensor equipment that can test the effectiveness of the process, thereby ensuring ozonated water is demonstrably safe to use anywhere the technology is rolled out.
Once ozone is applied, the new sensor will measure ozone dissolved in water in real time. After treatment a residual amount of ozone, which has not been used up and which Aqua21 technology can measure, indicates that the water has been disinfected and is therefore safe.
The principle is simple – but the application was not. Work on the sensors began over a year ago, using bespoke equipment to prove the concept. The process was effective but far too expensive for the scale Aqua21 is aiming for.
After many months of intense effort the earlier, bulky sensor has evolved into a cheap, small and reliable electronic device that can be deployed easily in the field. It has no moving parts, needs little or no maintenance and is no bigger than an MP3 player but, crucially, it is highly sensitive to even the smallest ozone levels.
Large-scale manufacture of the device will further reduce cost, enabling multiple sensors to be deployed at numerous points in a water supply network.
Once the device is established, further refinements to the overall Aqua21 concept will allow targeted treatment when and where required in the water supply to bring water quality up to a desired standard that the sensors can then measure. This ‘internet of water’ will introduce faster, cheaper, safer and tailored water treatment for all requirements and at all points of use in any water supply network that adopts Aqua21 technology.
Trevor Costello, co-founder, Aqua 21, says: “Having developed a technology that uses ozonation to guarantee clean water at a reasonable cost we set ourselves the task of developing a network of sensors that could test that process. With this breakthrough, the Aqua21 concept has come one step closer to wide-scale commercial application.”