Observing the Dynamics of Waterborne Pathogens for Assessing the Level of Contamination

Abstract

In environments of scarce hygiene it is of primary importance to detect potentially harmful concentrations of pathogens in drinking water. In many situations, however, accurate analysis of water samples is prohibitively complex and often requires highly specialised apparatuses and technicians. In order to overcome these limitations, a method to employ video processing to assist microfluidics water filtering apparatuses is proposed. Through the automated analysis of videos captured at the output of such devices it is possible to extract useful information that could control an autonomous calibration, hence eliminating the need of an expert and possibly leading to the construction of readily employable water quality assessing devices.