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Development and deployment of a faecal matter sensor for marine and freshwater environments

Briciu Burghina, Ciprian Constantin orcid logoORCID: 0000-0001-8682-9116 (2016) Development and deployment of a faecal matter sensor for marine and freshwater environments. PhD thesis, Dublin City University.

Abstract
There is currently great interest in monitoring the microbiological quality of bathing waters and ensuring the safety of users. The European Bathing Water Directive 2006/7/EC which came into place in 2011 sets strict new standards for the classification of bathing waters. Ability to rapidly test microbiological quality of bathing waters is a powerful tool for meeting water quality standards and guidelines, risk assessment and management systems. Real-time and on-line monitoring are key factors for consideration in current method developments for continuous indicator organism assessment to meet early warning requirements and water safety plans. The aim of this work is to address the need for tests capable of rapid on-site and in-situ assessment of microbiological water quality. To achieve an active management of bathing areas and to reduce the risk associated with the presence of faecal pollution, such tests are essential. In the 1st part of this thesis, commercial in-situ sensors are used to collect continuous high frequency water quality data for a period of 7 months in Dublin Port. These data are used to identify pollution hot-spots at the site and coupled with data collected from discrete samples it is shown that continuous monitoring can be used as a decision support tool. In the 2nd part, the thesis looks at developing a rationale for monitoring water for biological contamination and follows by establishing a proposed sensor technology based on a bacterial marker enzyme and fluorescence optical detection. A novel protocol for the recovery and detection of faecal pollution indicator bacteria, E. coli, using β-glucuronidase (GUS) activity is developed. The developed protocol involves two main steps: sample preparation and GUS activity measurement and has a time–toresult of less than 75 min.
Metadata
Item Type:Thesis (PhD)
Date of Award:March 2016
Refereed:No
Supervisor(s):Regan, Fiona
Uncontrolled Keywords:beta-glucuronidase; faecal pollution; E. coli; bathing water; sensor
Subjects:Physical Sciences > Analytical chemistry
Biological Sciences > Biochemistry
Physical Sciences > Chemical detectors
Biological Sciences > Enzymology
Physical Sciences > Environmental chemistry
Physical Sciences > Chemistry
Biological Sciences > Biosensors
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science and Health > School of Chemical Sciences
Research Initiatives and Centres > Marine and Environmental Sensing Technology Hub (MESTECH)
Use License:This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. View License
ID Code:21032
Deposited On:08 Apr 2016 10:16 by Lisa Jones . Last Modified 04 May 2022 09:48
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