Researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada have built inexpensive and tiny devices using a 3D printer to inspect water quality in the distribution system  which could revolutionize the water industry.

The researchers at UBC’s Okanagan campus have designed a tiny device that can monitor drinking water quality in real time and help protect against waterborne illness.

Professor Mina Hoorfar, Director of the School of Engineering, says new research proves their miniaturized water quality sensors are cheap to make, can operate continuously and can be deployed anywhere in the water distribution system.

Online water quality monitoring is becoming an essential part of large water distribution systems (WDS) to ensure that contamination, whether through accidental or deliberate means, do not affect consumers.

However, while most urban purification plants have real-time monitoring sensors in the upstream of WDS, the placement of online water quality monitoring sensors throughout WDS has not yet been feasible, primarily due to the high cost and low reliability of the sensors.

Prof. Hoorfar commented:

“Current water safety practice involves only periodic hand testing, which limits sampling frequency and leads to a higher probability of disease outbreak.

 “Traditional water quality sensors have been too expensive and unreliable to use across an entire water system.”

Image:Figure 1. Fabrication of the interface using 3D. (a) Comsol simulation of the interface; (b) CAD model of the interface; (c) fabricated interface; and (d) pH sensor fitted into the interface.

(Source Sensors Journal)

Until now – the tiny devices created in her Advanced Thermo-Fluidic lab at UBC’s Okanagan campus, are proving reliable and sturdy enough to provide accurate readings regardless of water pressure or temperature.

The sensors are wireless, reporting back to the testing stations, and work independently—meaning that if one stops working, it does not bring down the whole system. And since they’re made using 3D printers, they are fast, inexpensive and easy to produce.

“Unique and effective technology that can revolutionize the water industry”

“This highly portable sensor system is capable of constantly measuring several water quality parameters such as turbidity, pH, conductivity, temperature, and residual chlorine, and sending the data to a central system wirelessly,” she added. “It is a unique and effective technology that can revolutionize the water industry.”

While many urban purification plants have real-time monitoring sensors, they are upstream of the distribution system. According to Prof. Hoorfar, the pressure at which water is supplied to the customer is much higher than what most sensors can tolerate. The new sensors can be placed right at or within a customer’s home, providing a direct and precise layer of protection against unsafe water.

“Although the majority of water-related diseases occur in lower- or middle-income countries, water quality events in Walkerton, for example, raise serious questions about consistent water safety in even developed countries like Canada,” Prof. Hoorfar continued. “Many of these tragedies could be prevented with frequent monitoring and early detection of pathogens causing the outbreak.”

A commercially available desktop 3D design printer was used to create the devices – the Mojo 3D Printer from US firm TRIMECH which uses Fused Deposition Modeling™ technology developed by Stratasys Inc. in the USA.

The research, recently published in Sensors journal, was partly funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada Strategic Project Grant and Postgraduate Scholarship funding.

Last week the University of Bath in the UK separately published details of a research project it is working on using 3D printing to make devices that actively filter out contaminants found in water. 

Click here to read the article in full in Sensors Journal