Many people in rural India assume their water is fine or don’t have access to traditional E. coli tests, Bir says. “I think the most important thing is that the Oasis test is not an indicator of E. coli presence alone,” he says. “With the contamination pathway for all microbial contamination being feces, the test essentially tells you if the pathway is open or not.”
In January 2017, in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology, researchers from Georgia Tech, Johns Hopkins University, Duke University, UNICEF and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine deployed 3,000 Oasis tests in Kanpur, India. “In a region where poverty is rampant and resources are limited, the researchers were keen to see if access to these tests would result in improved water quality,” Bir says. “They provided no intervention support except for these three suggestions to community members: 1) boil water if it is contaminated, 2) store it in a safe storage container, and 3) wash hands regularly.”
In a single month after using the Oasis test, mean E. coli counts fell by a staggering 40 percent among the Kanpur households involved, Bir reports. “Behavioral outcomes were positive, also,” he elaborates. “In households that used Oasis tests and received a positive signal, the percent of households using covered water storage containers increased from 93 percent to 100 percent, and soap availability for handwashing increased from 89 percent to 99 percent.”
Water Quality Data App
Oasis is currently developing an app that coordinates large scale water quality data collection efforts and enables crowd-sourcing of water quality data. “This opens up the possibility for anyone to contribute to this database, and the data itself will be openly available to all interested parties,” Bir mentions. “Worldwide, we currently have little to no data on microbial water quality because the current standard test, membrane filtration, is simply not scalable. As a scalable and reliable alternative, the Oasis test will enable large scale data collection on microbial water quality for the first time. The app will coordinate such trials seamlessly.”
Individuals, too, have been unable to test their own water for the same reasons, Bir continues. “The app will allow everyone who runs a test to add their datapoint to a public database,” he says. “This data becomes useful to institutions that are setting policy, but is also a major asset to all stakeholders, including individuals and families.”
Since food and water quality and safety are inextricably linked, with the pathways for contamination for both being essentially the same, Bir is confident the Oasis water test holds promise for improving food quality and safety—in homes and retail and manufacturing venues, especially in developing countries. “Based on the results in Kanpur, we have shown beyond a doubt that allowing people to test their own water leads to safer living environments and cleaner water,” Bir emphasizes. “In households around the world, especially those in impoverished communities, the test serves as a tool to spark changes in behavior. There is no doubt whatsoever that these changes in behavior translate into food quality and safety improvements as well.”
I would to get in touch with:
1) Arjun Bir, founder of Oasis – winner of MIT Water Innovation Prize for Test Kit for E. Coli
2) and Dr Tuhjina Banerjee, Dept of Chemistry, Pittsburg State University about their nanosensor for E. Coli testing (Article: “E.Coli Testing: Using Nanotechnology and liquid droplet tests to detect pathogens”)