Newton Fund - Development and validation of low-cost field sensor and filtration technologies for real-time detection and removal of drinking water contaminants (As/F-)

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Millennium Develop Goal 7c - to reduce by half the 4 billion people without sustainable access to safe drinkingwater - has encouraged rapid growth in water quality testing. Despite this, exposure to high levels of arsenic &fluoride through contaminated drinking water remains a global health problem, affecting an estimated 300mpeople worldwide & over 6m people in Mexico. Chronic exposure to arsenic leads to numerous health issues,including skin lesions & cancers, while long-term exposure to fluoride leads to bone and joint deformities anddental problems. No cure exists for either; the only solution is to prevent excessive exposure throughaffordable testing & filtration. In this project the teams will collaborate to develop novel test strip-based fieldtests for both that will be rapid, easy-to-use & affordable, while also developing a novel fluoride filter to goalong with an arsenic filter developed previously. The teams will develop a smartphone app that will help tomap the problem & will develop prototypes of the low-cost electronic readers. The new sensors & lab-scalefilter with be validated in field trials in one of the worst affected regions of Mexico.