Waterborne diseases, caused by harmful pathogens in water, pose serious global health risks. In England alone, hospital admissions for waterborne illnesses have surged by 60% between 2010 and 2024.
In 2024, UK Regulator OFWAT scrutinized all eleven UK water companies for water contamination and compliance failure. Four of those companies face enforcement cases, and can be fined up to ten percent of their annual revenue if found to be in breach of safety protocols. Coliform bacteria issues make up the highest percentage of failures at treatment works in the UK, a study found. At the same time, UK tap water safety is at risk due to testing lab closures, keeping the public vulnerable to water systems that still rely heavily on inefficient, centralized testing methods.
As demand for higher water quality and rates of water reuse increase, the requirement for rapid, effective monitoring will grow, especially in the face of aging infrastructure, climate change, and increasing water stress.
Real-time biomonitoring is an opportunity to turn water-borne bacteria into data. Through emerging high-resolution technology, operators can detect bacterial loads in real time - even while the sample is still being processed at the lab for official results. Adoption of early warning systems can not only prevent public safety disasters but also optimize water monitoring to ease financial burdens on utilities and taxpayers, with welcome applications into other industries.
Challenges in Traditional Water Safety Monitoring Techniques
Long-time WHO-approved methods for evaluating microbial water safety are based on a concentration threshold for indicator organisms. Methods such as heterotrophic and selective plate counting testing involve manual sampling followed by laboratory culturing. Requiring up to five days to detect harmful microbes, these methods are inefficient and leave water systems vulnerable to greater contamination.
Outdated techniques, such as growing bacteria in labs, can miss short-term changes in water quality and non-culturable microbes. Further complications such as sample degradation, central lab processing delays, and missed blind spots in water systems mean better water monitoring and testing solutions are needed.
Real-Time Biomonitoring: A Game Changer
In recent years, global efforts have focused on improving water safety by developing affordable sensors capable of detecting contamination early. Thanks to advancements in technology, testing for parameters such as BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) and microbial content shifted from traditional labs to real-time, on-site monitoring.
Over the past decade, early warning systems (EWS) have emerged as effective alternatives to older, culture-based methods. These employ compact, in-field devices combining biochemical and physical sensors to analyse water quality in real time. By providing near instant results and enabling more frequent testing, EWS devices allow for faster responses to potential issues, reducing the risk of serious contamination events.
UV fluorescence spectroscopy is one promising method for identifying changes in microbial concentrations. The technology centres around measuring the natural fluorescence of compounds in water, such as tryptophan and nucleic acids, at specific wavelengths. This approach is cost-effective and offers similar benefits to standard sensors, making it an excellent option for EWS devices.
Benefits of Real-Time Monitoring
Online monitoring systems are gaining popularity due to their ability to deliver high-resolution data on microbial activity within 10 minutes to 2.5 hours. These systems can be invaluable to utilities requiring accurate testing for large populations, amidst time and financial constraints. The technology can assist in allowing users to track contamination trends virtually, decide when to change filters, and enhance overall water safety.
The tools also unlock improved safety and efficiency and ultimately, regulatory compliance. Given the increased scrutiny and potential penalties UK and EU providers face, these systems can bring revolutionary change by allowing utilities to align with stricter safety standards. Water utilities can proactively minimize risks by leveraging better sensors, data and analytics.
Innovations Driving Progress
High resolution monitoring techniques are gaining traction in Europe and Britain, especially among utilities phasing out chlorine treatment for reused water.
Amongst the monitoring innovators, California-based Orb stand out with their fluorescence-based system that has gained momentum since 2019. Orb’s technology using real-time probes – an alternative to online flow cytometry - can collect data every second. The method eliminates fouling issues common in older technologies and works without chemicals or reagents.
In a pilot project with Anglian Water, Orb's first-of-its-kind, non-destructive, highly sensitive probe demonstrated detection results closely matching those of traditional lab-based cell counts. Their technology is at a comparable price to turbidity probes currently being used in the market, while the technology is able to detect microbes down to 0.4 parts per trillion of amino acid tryptophan.
Orb integrates probe data with predictive intelligence to accurately forecast when a treatment plant might face a compliance breach. The enterprise-scale biomonitoring solution combines proprietary sensors with an AI Water Intelligence Platform to provide insights in real time. The technology enables users to monitor microbial trends and biostability, detect threshold breaches in real-time, validate and optimize treatment processes, thereby safeguarding public safety.
The Future of Water Monitoring
Orb’s real-time fluorescence technology monitoring has potential beyond drinking water monitoring. Industries like wastewater treatment, food production, and pharmaceuticals can benefit from these innovations. Domestic water recycling and medical applications, like tracking urinary infections, are also promising areas. Combining multiple techniques could provide even better insights into water quality.
Technology is paving the way for a future where water quality management is faster, smarter, and more reliable. Water professionals in the UK, Europe and beyond must explore or adopt real-time microbial monitoring solutions for safer, more efficient water supplies. By adopting real-time monitoring, water professionals can create systems that meet modern challenges.