Newton Fund - Development of a novel combined arsenic filtration/monitoring system for community-scale water supplies

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The WHO has estimated that 140 million people globally drink water containing arsenic above safe levels.Arsenic is a toxic naturally-occurring contaminant that enters aquifers from natural sources in the bedrock andalso from human activity such as industrial manufacturing and mining. Arsenic is toxic even at extremely lowlevels (WHO recommended levels are 10 parts per billion) with long-term exposure leading to fatal internalcancers among 10% of those exposed. Because arsenic is tasteless, odourless and gives no acute symptomssuch as fever or pain until after prolonged exposure, arsenic poisoning has been justifiably coined the ‘silentkiller’, causing a public health crisis. Water testing is key to arsenic mitigation and management, where theadage ‘what you cannot measure you cannot manage’ is pertinent. Because current tests for measuring arseniccontamination in drinking water are only semi-quantitative, time-consuming and require trained personnel,there is a need for improved tests that are rapid, affordable, accurate and easy-to-use. In this project the teamswill develop an innovative handheld sensor for arsenic that will then be integrated into a novel arsenic filter.