3 KNUST Students Develop Device that Measures Water Quality and Transmit Data Wirelessly to FDA
A group of students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology have developed a device that measures the quality of drinking water and transmit the data wirelessly for remote monitoring.
According to them, water packaging companies treat and package water in sachets and bottles however, a lot of these manufactures compromise on quality for higher profit.
These operators fail to implement quality guidelines specified by monitoring agencies like the Ghana Standard Authority, and Foods and Drugs Authority (FDA). It is mostly common to find inconsistencies in the quality of water these companies supply.
Although the FDA undertake periodic checks on these manufacturers to ensure that they are adhering to the quality standards it is not efficient because water of low quality could be put out to the market in between the visits.
The traditional water metering systems also require periodic manual intervention for both metering and maintenance. It has several drawbacks; such as a complicated methodology, long waiting time for results and lack of real time monitoring, hence the need to provide real time monitoring of water quality to ensure that the water placed out by these companies are always of high standards and safe for human consumption.
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They indicated that some parameters that will be considered during the measuring of the quality of the water include Conductivity, pH, Turbidity, and Oxygen reduction potential.
The measured data will then be transmitted wirelessly to the FDA so that, they can intervene before the water is put on the market.
This would help save time for both the FDA and Water companies as it
is relatively cheaper than traditional testing and monitoring method and
would ensure that quality water is put on the market.
The
device can be used by Standardization bodies to ensure that
manufacturers do not compromise on the water quality right before
packaging.
StephanieHorsu/techvoiceafrica.com