AWWA WQTC65706

The objective of a European system for environmental technology verification (ETV) is to verify the performance characteristics of commercial-ready (environmental) technologies through the evaluation of objective and quality assured data so that potential purchasers and permitters, both inside and outside of Europe, are provided with an independent assessment of what they are buying. In order to establish such a system the European Union has launched a number of research and demonstration projects. One of these projects, TESTNET (Towards European Sectorial Testing Networks for Environmentally sound Technologies) aims to develop an independent system to provide the market with credible performance data from the focus areas of the project, one of these being water monitoring technology. The verification procedure for water monitoring technologies uses data generated by agreed performance testing procedures as described in ISO 15839: Water Quality - Online Sensors/Analyzing Equipment for Water - Specifications and Performance Tests. However, these procedures are mainly developed for chemical monitors, and in order to be able to handle bio-monitors, a test case has been set up which shall disclose the needs for adaptation of the existing protocols, if any. The TOXcontrol biomonitor, which is an on-line water quality monitoring system, was chosen for the test case. It is an automatic instrument, which uses freshly cultivated light emitting bacteria (Vibrio fischeri) as a biological sensor. Toxic substances present in the water sample destroy some amount of bacteria, leading to a decrease of the light emitted by the bacteria. The instrument calculates the inhibition factor as described in the ISO 11348-1 Standard. Measurement parameters can be selected according to the parameters described in the standard: dilution ratio, exposure time. The complete system was tested both in the lab as well as on-site. A list of the tests will be realized on the TOXcontrol biomonitor while following the two standards ISO 11348 and ISO 15839: Response time: conform to the standard ISO 15839, Coefficient of variation, Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ), Repeatability, Smaller detectable change, Short-term Drift, Effects of memory, Operating conditions and environment, short term drift, memory effect etc. Includes figure.