Researchers at UBC91裸聊视频檚 Okanagan have designed a tiny device 91裸聊视频攂uilt using a 3D printer91裸聊视频攖hat can monitor drinking water quality and help protect against waterborne illness.

Director of the School of Engineering Mina Hoorfar said new research proves miniaturized water quality sensors are cheap to make, can operate continuously and can be deployed anywhere in the water distribution system.

91裸聊视频淐urrent water safety practice involves only periodic hand testing, which limits sampling frequency and leads to a higher probably of disease outbreak,91裸聊视频� she said. 91裸聊视频淭raditional water quality sensors have been too expensive and unreliable to use across an entire water system.91裸聊视频�

Tiny devices created in her Advanced Thermo-Fluidic lab at UBC91裸聊视频檚 Okanagan are proving reliable and sturdy enough to provide accurate readings regardless of water pressure or temperature, according to a UBCO release.

The sensors are wireless, reporting back to the testing stations, and work independently91裸聊视频攎eaning that if one stops working, it does not bring down the whole system. And since they91裸聊视频檙e made using 3D printers, they are fast, inexpensive and easy to produce, said the release.

While many urban purification plants have real-time monitoring sensors, they are upstream of the distribution system. Often, Hoorfar said, the pressure at which water is supplied to the customer is much higher than what most sensors can tolerate.

But her new sensors can be placed right at or within a customer91裸聊视频檚 home, providing a direct and precise layer of protection against unsafe water.

More than 17 years ago, four people died and hundreds became ill after drinking E.coli-affected water in Walkerton, Ontario.

91裸聊视频淎lthough the majority of water-related diseases occur in lower- or middle-income countries, water quality events in Walkerton, for example, raise serious questions about consistent water safety in even developed countries like Canada,91裸聊视频� said Hoorfar. 91裸聊视频淢any of these tragedies could be prevented with frequent monitoring and early detection of pathogens causing the outbreak.91裸聊视频�

The research was in Sensors.