Alternative surrogates and testing protocol for point-of-use water treatment device field efficacy testing

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Lab-based efficacy testing of point-of-use (POU) water treatment devices are typically used to validate theirperformances with regard to the protective capacity (i.e. how many log reductions of target organisms). To thisend, challenge testing with target organisms of surrogates is conducted in well-controlled environmentsfollowing industry-accepted protocols. Due to their decentralised nature, POU water treatment devices areoperated by end-users. It is thought that this may be one of the reasons that the field performance of suchdevices may not be as good as the lab tests. This is based on field studies reporting compliance results (i.e. finalwater quality). Yet, there is no knowledge of whether there is any loss of their protective capacity, as there iscurrently no field-based protocol for efficacy testing at the POU. This project seeks to address this by testingthe adequacy alternative non-pathogenic surrogates to be used in a field-based testing protocol also to bedeveloped by this project. If successful, this will allow the industrial partner to receive valuable informationfrom the field with regard to the performance of their product, leading to an improved delivery of service (e.g.training on how to properly operate and maintain the devices).