QantX is delighted to announce its investment in the team at Molendotech as they seek funding to help them scale and deliver their solution for rapid on-site pathogen detection.
Every day, 2 million tonnes of sewage and other effluents drain into the World’s waters, leading in part to more human deaths annually than from all forms of violence including war.[1]
As a result of storm overflow and insufficient infrastructure, the UK is increasingly dumping raw sewage into its waterways. In 2022, Water Companies reported over 370,000 such events. Across the Ocean, a US report by the Environmental Integrity Project recently found that half of their waterways (assessing more than 1.4m miles of rivers and streams) are impaired, failing standards for swimming and recreation, aquatic life, fish consumption and drinking.
Part of the pollution and cause for concern is the presence of faecal coliform bacteria, which is often used as an indicator of water-borne pathogens such as e.coli. Swimming in waters with high concentrations of faecal coliforms can lead to diseases such as typhoid fever, hepatitis, gastroenteritis, dysentery, and ear infections.
Existing testing pathways require sampling and testing over a period of 24 to 48 hours in a lab, which is too slow to provide adequate warnings to anyone entering or using the water. Molendotech, a spinout from the University of Plymouth, developed a patented rapid field test for water that measures the concentration of faecal matter in as little as 15 minutes and can be conducted by the water side. They are already working closely with Water Utility companies in the UK and have agreements with NGOs and companies in Nigeria and the DRC to use their water sanitation kits.
[1] https://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/quality.shtml