America’s water distribution systems are vulnerable to contamination, yet current monitoring systems are 
costly and slow, requiring water samples to be collected and then sent to off-site laboratories for analysis. This process, which can take days, means that tainted water may be distributed and consumed long before any contamination is detected by authorities.
To ensure the safety of our nation’s water supplies through early detection of toxins and harmful bacteria, Sandia and two industry partners, Tenix Corporation and CH2M Hill, are developing an unattended system that can continuously monitor the safety and purity of a water supply. Our partners hope to make this system commercially available.
The system will employ Sandia’s MicroChemLab technology, which provides rapid chemical and biological detection and analysis, to create sensors that can identify specific toxins in the water supply. With the sensors in place, authorities will be able to detect any contamination as soon as it occurs. They can then suspend water flow and begin performing mitigation steps immediately.
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