Fully automated rapid microbiology enabling more accurate assessments of water quality

Exposure to waterborne pathogens has significant public health and economic repercussions, high-frequency monitoring for fecal indicators being essential to ensure water safety. A strong citizen demand exists in many urban areas worldwide to regain recreational access to rivers which have been historically impacted by complex forms of pollution. The City of Paris, for example, will host several 2024 Olympic aquatic events in the Seine river (closed to swimming for the past 100 years), with plans to open several swimming sites to the general public in 2025. Providing safe access to such waters requires significant infrastructure investment on one hand, and same-day microbiological water quality measurements on the other hand, currently not possible using current laboratory methods. In this talk we will introduce ALERT, a rapid automated technology for comprehensive quantification of culturable fecal indicators (E.coli, total or fecal coliforms, and enterococci), and will explore several applications of ALERT in urban settings and in remote areas, highlighting its superior ability over traditional culture-based methods to detect bacteria attached in high numbers to aggregates (a key indicator of recent sewage contamination). The presentation will delve into several case studies highlighting ALERT's practical applications such as illicit discharge detection, monitoring rivers (including the Seine river in Paris) and open water swimming sites, identifying risks in agriculture irrigation practices, assessing effectiveness of water treatment operations, etc.