I was wondering if anyone could recommend a low cost water testing tool? I'm working with a community in Colombia, and would like to test their drinking water to see what kind of bacteria/pathogens are in it.
Millipore has been gobbled up by a larger company. The kits are available through https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/mm/mhpc10025?lang=en®ion=US
We have low cost water test kits for total bacteria, called AquaVial. They can detect total bacteria, E.coli, fungi, molds, etc. from ranges of < 500 cfu/mL, > 500 cfu/mL - 2000 cfu/mL, and + 2000 cfu/mL.
The results can be determined in 15 minutes. It is a visual/color test.
Please check out our portable water quality test kits that are easy for anyone to use and are designed for on-site, field level testing in low resource, rural and remote areas.
Our CBT Kit for E. coli is a simple test that detects and quantifies (MPN) E. coli in a 100 mL sample. No labs, electricity, expensive equipment, cold chain or highly trained technicians are required. It enables ambient temp incubation at 25 degrees C and above and works at variable temperatures.
Quantitative test results are obtained by easy color match.
We also provide quantitative CBT Kit for H2S bacteria, which is a lower cost yet very informative test for fecal contamination in water.
Last but not least, we have a collection of portable water testing field kits.
I have over 30 yrs water quality monitiring exp. Own water consulting comp. That works in Horn of Africa. And explored many portable test technologues.
One the best that beats technologies is Wagteh of the UK.
As mentioned by Dwight Petri disk of 3M is a low cost option (2 to3 US$ per test). It does test 1 ml so is not an official test (which should be 100 ml) but it indicates the number of bacteria and the type. SMART Centres often use it to create awareness. For instance wells, boreholes with clear water can be contaminated and you can show that with a simple test. Regards Henk Holtslag SMART Centre Group.
Hi Brian, low cost water testing can be done with field testing kits commonly called FTK in India. With little training, community or the community workers can test the potability of water. In case of tests for bacteria or pathogen present in water these kits can provide a reasonable answers. FTKs are used for first level information and the detailed analysis and confirmation can be done with laboratory test methods.
Millipore make an all-in-one "popsical" that is cheap and easy. Fill the holder, dip the popsical in a few seconds, throw out the sample, replace the popsical and rather than find an incubator, carry it in your jock for a day. 98.6 does it.
Petri-disks by 3M are cheap and easy. You need to incubate the samples to show presence of e-coli which is easy to do in Columbia, just find a warm but not hot room. Sensafe has bottles you fill that check for both coliform and e-coli. They are more expensive than the Petri-disks but real handy. Here is their website. https://sensafe.com/waterworks-ez-cult-bacteria-absence-of-coliform-with-e-coli-using-uv-light-extra/