April 22, 2008 The World Health Organisation states that one billion people lack access to clean drinking water, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change believes this number will rise. In the developed world, the issue is one of monitoring and maintaining the fresh water supplies that already exist, and that's where systems like JMAR Technologies’ BioSentry water monitoring system come in. Biosentry uses laser-produced, multi-angle light scattering technology to identify individual microorganisms, eliminating the need for consumables or reagents and is able to detect bacterial pathogens up to 25 times better than any other water monitoring system according to recent test results from the U.S. EPA.
BioSentry JMAR’s pathogen detection library, which is remotely updated, analyzes the bio-optical signatures of particles and classifies them within minutes. The system uses a touch screen interface to provide a graphical depiction of water status, which displays particle counts for monitored and unclassified microorganisms, and is updated every minute. If the particles exceed a user-defined threshold, the system delivers a warning alert to the user, via e-mail, encrypted internet, or linked information systems. If an “event” occurs, the system can automatically analyze a water sample to determine its effect.
The US Environmental Protection Agency conducted the tests on the BioSentry during 2007 using a pilot-scale water distribution system. The EPA introduced pathogens into the water, and compared the accuracy of BioSentry and other products in detecting them.
“As a matter of policy, the EPA does not endorse or promote specific products", said JMAR Technologies’ President and CEO C. Neil Beer, Ph.D. "However... these results strongly reinforce our conviction that BioSentry will soon be in wide use around the world to protect the public from intentional or accidental contamination of water supplies. The success of BioSentry also bodes well for other products in development that employ similar advanced technology.”
