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Edmonton50 company Roshan Water partners with St. Mary River Irrigation District to revolutionize on-site, rapid water-safety testing
The global mortality and disability toll from waterborne diseases is considerable, with over a million deaths annually. The economic costs of unsafe water go far beyond direct healthcare costs when factoring in antimicrobial resistance and productivity losses, and can reach hundreds of billions of dollars per year. The household and community-level effects, are particularly severe in low-income settings, including both direct treatment costs and lost productivity.
E. coli is a contamination indicator organism where its presence suggests possible contamination from fecal matter and potentially harmful pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, and protozoa. Drinking water standards (WHO, EPA, Health Canada, EU) require zero detectable E. coli per 100 mL sample. On average, a wastewater treatment plant in North America will spend $1-2M USD per year as the cost of over-disinfecting to avoid falling foul on regulatory compliance.
Accessible rapid bacteria tests can be helpful in maintaining drinking water, wastewater and irrigation infrastructure efficiently, saving power consumption, electricity cost and GHG emissions from over-disinfection, and providing to superior health outcomes for the communities served.
Edmonton based Roshan Water’s innovation includes a 1-hour onsite E. coli test including portable device VeloCens, patented nanotechnology cartridges for electrochemical testing of bacteria, and mobile app + cloud portal for easy access, management and reporting of data.
Organizations such as St. Mary River Irrigation District (SMRID) have bylaws requiring runoff and stormwaters to be within regulatory acceptable limits for E.coli in surface waters before admittance by pumping into the waterworks. According to Paul Fontaine, Operations & Water Quality at SMRID, “… VeloCens® can benefit the District by offering expedited, less costly estimations of E. coli concentration in runoff and stormwaters”, and that “faster result which is reasonably precise and accurate when compared to a lab-run test, will allow us to still make informed decisions when time is a factor. In many cases, runoff and stormwater management can quickly become an emergency.”
“Our lab-quality, cost-effective and easy to use, rapid bacteria test system can help facilities establish the optimum disinfectant dosage at any time to reduce cost and environmental impacts. It is a very effective tool during maintenance events, troubleshooting or when the system is upset by receiving an unknown influent. Quicker result leads to quicker action and can save lives.” says Dr. Amirreza Sohrabi, co-founder of Roshan Water.
About St. Mary River Irrigation District (SMRID)
SMRID is Canada's largest irrigation district serving Southern Alberta.
About Roshan Water
Roshan Water, a brainchild of University of Alberta scientists, has developed a patented innovation system for a lab-quality, portable, rapid, easy-to-use, and a real-time result bacteria test including a portable device VeloCens, patented nanotechnology cartridges for electrochemical testing of bacteria, and mobile app + cloud portal for easy access, management and reporting of data.
About Scale Up Canada
Scale Up Canada is a not-for-profit dedicated to connecting Canadian innovators with industry experts and strategic investors. Our mission is to drive the global commercialization of Canadian-made innovations, ensure investor readiness for high-potential startups, and build capacity for community organizations working with Canadian founders. This project was partially funded through Scale Up Canada’s EA+G (Expert Advisory + Grants) program.