Bacterial Monitoring of Drinking Water Sources Using Immunofluorescence technique, Image Processing Software and Web-based Data Visualisation

Abstract

European organizations involved in updating water management regulations (WHO, OECD) insist in recent years on the need to improve methods for assessing and managing microbiological , physical and chemical safety of drinking water . Data obtained as a result of water quality monitoring should become a starting point for risk management actions.

The paper is mainly focused on presenting a highly efficient software application used to implement a  more rapid microbiological method to detect pathogenic bacteria for human health, based on bacterial specific antibody-antigen interaction (Ag-Ab) , namely immunofluorescence technique , and microscopic digital image processing. Laboratory tests have proven that the proposed solution is reliable, stable and time-efficient for preventing microbiological contamination of drinking water.

This application software, the method and related instrumentation that the paper presents are parts of a demonstrative modular model which monitors water quality. The first module consists of instrumentation and software that serve a methodology applied to detect pathogenic bacteria in drinking water samples. The second module performs data transmission and storage in a relational database and enables real-time data visualization.