Mission of AQUARIUS

AQUARIUS will provide an on- and inline capable mid-IR sensing solution to meet legal provisions for industrial waste water and drinking water monitoring. Significant enhancement in sensitivity will be achieved by further advancement of the laser source and the detector as well as an innovative combination of sample extraction and preparation with polymer functionalized waveguides. The AQUARIUS sensing solution will be developed along the entire value chain towards integration in industrially proven online devices for water control driven by strong industrial commitment in the consortium.

Motivation

The supply of sufficient and clean freshwater is under pressure worldwide. However, freshwater is essential for human wellbeing and plays an important role in the world economy, its quality being regulated by national and international legislation. Whereas water is the most abundant substance on the Earth’s surface and essential for all forms of life and used in almost every industrial process, directly or indirectly, fresh water comprises only a small fraction of the total amount of water.   Therefore, ensuring good quality of this resource is paramount. The quality of fresh water can differ significantly. The variety and concentration of chemical species in the aquatic systems can be quite diversified, presenting a challenge in terms of both water purification strategies and water quality control. These contaminants are a challenge to the water sector. Thousands of these compounds are used every day and new ones are continually put on the market. Increasingly effective laboratory detection techniques are revealing the presence, in surface water for instance, of low concentrations of contaminants, whose presence was previously unknown. To assure a safe environment, novel water monitoring technologies are needed for all types of water including process water, waste water, sewage as well as drinking water. These new technologies shall enable pervasive water monitoring which can replace and compliment currently employed laboratory based offline methods by online or inline monitoring strategies.