News

Our Rapid Detection of Bacteria project has been recognised as one of the most exciting water treatment innovations in the UK and has won first prize at the Water Industry
Awards. 

Helen Pickett, Technical Innovation Lead, explains: “The current practice for detecting bacteria in water supplies is slow – it can take 24hours to get results, and this means that we’re working reactively – only dealing with issues once we get results.

“We decided that we wanted to be more proactive with the way we detect bacteria- we wanted faster results at the point of sampling- and so looked to other industries to see what’s
possible.  Complex technology from the medical world has recently been adopted into the water industry, but these machines cannot be used directly on site!  Then we found the SIGRIST BactoSense.  Based on the complex technology BactoSense have been developed specifically for use in the water sector and the results are not only amazing but our use is a first for the UK water industry.

“Results that used to take 24 hours to arrive now come in just 20 minutes.  Using this rapid online flow cytometry we can detect changes in bacteria counts 24/7, meaning we can become proactive to prevent failure and keep our customers water supplies the best we can.”

We will continue to work with the developers (SIGRIST-Photometer and bNovate) as we roll out 20 units across the business and train staff so that water supplies are tested regularly.