Feasibility study to assess viability of low-cost digital field sensor (AquAffirm-As™) for real-time measurement of arsenic in drinking water in Bangladesh

世界卫生组织估计，70个国家的超过1.4亿人经常饮用被砷污染的水，砷即使在微量情况下也是有毒的。长期接触饮用水会导致砷中毒，导致皮肤损伤、癌症、儿童学习困难，通常还会导致死亡。孟加拉国是受影响最严重的国家之一，多达5000万人饮用砷含量超标的水。事实上，世界卫生组织将孟加拉国的情况称为“历史上最大规模的人口中毒事件”。尽管问题的规模很大，对管井进行常规砷测试也很重要，但目前的现场测试使用的比色法速度慢、不准确、难以解释，而且没有联网。AquAffirm正在通过开发AquAffirm-AS(Tm)来解决这个问题，这是第一个快速、低成本、易于使用的饮用水中砷的数字现场测试。这一新颖的可供演示的测试代表着砷问题管理方面的重大进步：其速度、精确的化学和数字读数在当前测试的基础上大幅改进；网络连接和算法数据分析将使关于新安全井位置的优化决策成为可能。通过这一第一阶段项目，AquAffirm将扩大其在孟加拉国的合作者网络，并通过与学术界、政府和非政府组织的联系，确定测试的技术和商业可行性。

The WHO estimates that over 140m people in 70 countries regularly drink water contaminated with arsenic, which is poisonous even in trace amounts. Long-term exposure through drinking water can lead to arsenic poisoning, which causes skin lesions, cancers, childhood learning difficulties and, often, death. Bangladesh is one of the worst affected countries where up to 50m people drink water with excessive arsenic. Indeed, the WHO called the situation in Bangladesh: "the largest mass-poisoning of a population in history". Despite the scale of the problem and importance of routine testing of tube-wells for arsenic, current field-tests use colourimetric methods that are slow, imprecise, difficult-to-interpret and not web-connected. AquAffirm is addressing this issue with development of the AquAffirm-As(tm), the first rapid, low-cost, easy-to-use digital field-test for arsenic in drinking water. This novel demonstration-ready test represents a significant advance in management of the arsenic problem: its speed, precision chemistry and digital readout substantially improve upon current tests; web-connectivity and algorithmic data-analysis will enable optimised decision-making regarding locations of new safe wells. Through this Phase I project AquAffirm will extend its network of collaborators within Bangladesh and establish the technical and commercial feasibility of the test through contacts within academia, government and NGOs.