Co-Development of Technology for Measuring Faecal Contamination of Drinking Water

Participatory approaches to innovation aim to address persistent failures of technology to respond to end-user needs and context. Here, we present the results of a transdisciplinary project aimed at co-developing technology for water quality monitoring in developing countries. Drawing from social science, we developed and implemented a suite of approaches to engage community members and regional stakeholders in the innovation process. Part of our engagement activities involved sampling and molecular analysis of drinking water sources from two communities on the island of Efate in Vanuatu. The results revealed evidence for temporal variations in faecal contamination from different sources. This analysis was used to frame discussions about microbial contamination, water quality and health, which, along with other structured conversations, led to technical and institutional specifications for water quality sensing. Informed by these specifications, a device for monitoring colorimetric changes in response to microbial growth was designed and built. This device was able to quantify growth of faecal coliform indicator species Escherichia coli inoculated into sterile media and could detect E. coli inoculated into sterilised river water and naturally occurring E. coli in raw river water samples. The limit of detection was a single E. coli cell in 100 mL of liquid.