Filter by

Britain’s Summer of Sewage

17.08.2022

Excerpt: According to data gathered by environmental campaign group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), there has been storm sewage discharge into the waters at beaches in Cornwall, Devon, Sussex, Essex, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland and Cumbria. After an unusually hot summer with little rain, the heatwave breaking and the heavy rain has led to water companies pumping sewage water directly into the sea as they empty overflows. A tweet by Martyn Craddock showing the sewage emptying into Seaford, East Sussex, clearly shows the sewage discharging into the sea. Such spillages of human waste into the water environment are increasingly in the public eye, as witnessed in the BBC’s coverage earlier in the year of the untreated sewage being released into Langstone harbour nearRead more

UN Global Goal 3 & The Tryptophan Breakthrough

10.01.2022

Excerpt: What is UN Sustainable Development Goal 3? In the fine words of the UN declaration, ‘By 2030, substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination.’ Inadequate and unsafe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene is linked to 60 per cent of the disease burden from diarrhoea. UN Goal 3 is one of 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. UN Global Goal 3 (SDG 3 or Global Goal 3) concerns itself with basic human health. Tragically, the world is falling short on its promise of universal health coverage by 2030 and achieving universal health coverage remains a global challenge. The number of people incurringRead more

Achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 With Our Tryptophan Sensor

07.01.2022

Excerpt: What is UN Sustainable Development Goal 6? UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6 or Global Goal 6) is about “clean water and sanitation for all”. It is one of 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, with the official wording: “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.” The goal has eight targets to be achieved by at least 2030. Progress toward the targets will be measured by using eleven indicators. The proportion of the global population using safely managed drinking water services increased from 61 per cent in 2000 to 71 per cent in 2017. Despite progress, 2.2 billion people around the world still lacked safely managed drinking water,Read more

Monitor Sewage Discharge With Chelsea Technologies’ Tryptophan Sensor

23.12.2021

Excerpt: Typical post-storm sewage discharge into a river system. Water companies are permitted to release sewage into rivers and streams when the existing sewer system’s capacity can’t cope, for example after extreme weather events such as prolonged heavy rain Why is there even sewage discharge in our rivers? Water utilities are permitted to release sewage into rivers and streams when the existing sewer system’s capacity can’t cope, for example after extreme weather events such as prolonged heavy rain. This protects properties from flooding and prevents sewage backing up into our streets, homes and roads. Indeed, the EA itself says that overflows are “not a sign that the system is faulty”, and that they are “a necessary part of the existing sewerageRead more

How Can Tryptophan-like Fluorescence Be Applied For Monitoring Water Quality And What Can It Do For You?

02.12.2021

Excerpt: Laboratory studies have clearly identified that TLF is produced by all bacteria tested, both laboratory and environmental freshwater derived; tryptophan is an essential amino acid produced by all living things. While this work has demonstrated very strong significant correlations between single species enumeration and TLF intensity, the omnipresence of TLF prevents it from being applied as a species-specific enumerator, for example as an E. coli counter. This is particularly problematic in complex surface waters where the microbial communities are diverse and complex, further complicated by optical interferences such as absorbance and turbidity. Recently, the scientific literature has been moving away from the comparison of TLF to current water quality monitoring parameters and has focussed on exploring the benefit of thisRead more

Monitoring Bacteria in Aquatic Environments With Chelsea Technologies’ Tryptophan Sensors

08.11.2021

Excerpt: What is Tryptophan? Tryptophan is an amino acid used in the biosynthesis of proteins and exists in many foods that are protein-rich; a natural component of aquatic human effluent events. Tryptophan fluoresces in the ultra-violet (UV) region of light, which means that when we direct light of a particular UV wavelength onto Tryptophan, it will emit light of a longer wavelength; ergo tryptophan sensors. For example, light of certain wavelength directed towards Tryptophan emits light at different wavelength. The intensity of this emitted light can be detected and measured by a suitable sensor such as a Chelsea Technologies Tryptophan sensors. How does human activity change Tryptophan? Spillages of human waste into the water environment are increasingly in the public eye,Read more