Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID PR_2024_Irizarry

Multispectral Imaging and Artificial Intelligence in a Rapid, Portable and Low-Cost Water Quality Sensor

Institute: Puerto Rico
Year Established: 2024 Start Date: 2024-09-01 End Date: 2025-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $21,933 Total Non-Federal Funds: $10,967

Principal Investigators: Pedro J. Resto Irizarry

Project Summary: Biosensors are systems that detect a biological or chemical target and transduce the detection into a signal using thermal, optical, or electrical methods. The list of approved methods for wastewater, sewage, ambient, and recreational water testing includes measuring Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis), Escherichia coli (E. coli) and total coliforms as an indicator of fecal contamination [1]. Conventional methods for fecal bacteria testing in water have high sensitivity and specificity but provide delayed responses. Previous funding from PRWRERI has yielded in the development of a bacteriological water quality biosensor capable of quantifying E. faecalis in a low-cost and rapid fashion. Bacterial quantification was carried out in as little as three hours. The biosensor uses small sample volumes, little reagents, and no sample preparation. The system uses rapid-prototyping, microfabrication, microfluidics, and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in real-time for the rapid in situ analysis of water samples. This proposal aims to study how Multispectral Imaging (MI), the sample's excitation at varying wavelengths from ultraviolet (UV) to infrared (IR), can be used for bacteria quantification in such a low-cost system. This project builds on previous PRWRERI funding to continue the development of low- cost, rapid bacteriological detection tools for providing water quality information and developing tools for water quality monitoring, including the integration of artificial intelligence for bacteriological quantification.