A UK university spinout behind a rapid bacterial water testing kit is planning to launch live water quality maps, as scores of beachgoers report falling ill after swimming.
Molendotech, a spinout from the University of Plymouth, sells a portable test that detects E coli and other bacteria in water and delivers results on the spot, without waiting for days to get laboratory results.
Molendotech is now working on an app that will map water quality across Britain and the US, collating data from daily water tests with rain flow and tidal flows and using artificial intelligence to create predictive models. A launch is planned in the UK and US in October.
There have been increasing calls for the government to step up water testing, amid numerous incidents of water pollution and sewage spills in recent years that have contaminated rivers and sea waters in popular locations.
The campaign group Surfers Against Sewage has received 164 reports of sickness so far this year from beachgoers, mostly gastroenteritis but also ear and skin infections and other health problems.
“Rivers are probably worse in the UK than in Europe,” said Simon Jackson, professor of environment and human health at Plymouth University and chief scientific officer of Molendotech.
He founded the company in 2018 when he and his team developed a first version of the test, partly prompted by his stepdaughter getting conjunctivitis and a throat infection, requiring antibiotics, after swimming in the sea.
“What we’re providing is a tool to enable companies or individuals or groups to test the water because it’s easy to use and portable,” he said. “You can test the water repeatedly on the same day. You get a result in real time, whereas currently you’re having to wait one or two
