IN-GROUND: Inexpensive monitoring of Groundwater pollution in Urban African Districts

这项研究将使坦桑尼亚和英国的研究人员能够合作开发和测试一种廉价的生物传感器，用于现场、实时、监测城市地下水质量。生物传感器将能够检测来自不同来源的水污染，如坑式厕所。该项目将侧重于监测城市地区，因为厕所覆盖率和相关的地下水污染按比例影响的人口比农村地区更多。据估计，坦桑尼亚70%的城市住区是未规划的。城市非规划区域的问题包括缺乏集中的排污系统，以及无法获得现场技术的清空服务。这导致使用浅井的地区地下水污染加剧。根据世界卫生组织的数据，坦桑尼亚70%的疾病与水污染有关，每年造成近6亿美元的损失。因此，我们估计，适当监测水污染可促使增加适当的卫生和水处理，从而使坦桑尼亚实现千年发展目标。预计生物传感系统的使用还将有助于收集关于地下水当前状况的数据，并提高当地民众对地下水污染的认识。

This study will allow collaboration between researchers in Tanzania and the UK to develop and test an inexpensive biosensor for the on-site, real time, monitoring of urban groundwater quality. The biosensor will be able to detect water pollution emanating from different sources such as pit latrines. The project will focus on monitoring urban areas, as latrine coverage and the related groundwater pollution affects, proportionally, more people than in rural areas. It is estimated that 70% of urban settlements in Tanzania are unplanned. The problems of urban unplanned areas include lack of centralised sewerage and the inaccessibility of emptying services for onsite technologies. This leads to increased groundwater pollution in areas where shallow wells are used. According to the World Health Organization, 70% of diseases in Tanzania are water pollution related costing close to US$ 600 million annually. As such, we estimate that proper monitoring of water pollution can trigger increased and appropriate sanitation and water treatment which could lead to Tanzania meeting their Millennium Development Goals. It is expected that the use of a bio-sensing system will also help collect data on the current state of groundwater as well as increase the awareness of the local population in groundwater contamination.