"Real-time monitoring of bathing water: a public health challenge"
Coliplage: A fluorescent reactive substance for a pro-active response
The ocean is usually synonymous with vacation but the quality of its water can be a headache for the mayors of seaside resorts.
If the sea water is polluted, the mayor alone is authorized to open or close a beach. This decision can have serious consequences on bathers' health as well as on the economic activity of seaside resorts.
In 2003, ANEL (French Association of seaside resort mayors) asked Veolia to improve the contamination detection test. Veolia's R&D developed a bacteria identification process by means of a fluorescent reagent providing results in one hour: the COLIPLAGE process.
A seemingly insoluble aquatic problem
The measurement of water quality on French beaches is carried out by the DDASS (Departmental Directorate of Health and Social Affairs), whose agents use the microplate analysis technique (ISO9308-3). Although efficient, this test has one major drawback: it only delivers results after 36 hours. Furthermore, analyses are carried out on a one-off and not a daily basis.
Aware of the problem and eager to anticipate the toughening of European regulations in terms of water contamination thresholds, ANEL (French Association of seaside resort mayors) contacted Veolia in June 2003.
An ocean of opportunities
To meet these ambitious specifications, Veolia Water asked the water research Center, in charge of the project, to allow non-specialized staff to analyze bathing water in less than 4 hours in the field laboratories located near the beaches.
A pilot project was launched in the territory of 12 municipalities during the summer of 2004. Two years after the beginning of the project, a patent was filed in June 2005, giving Veolia exclusive use of the method.
This global tool was praised by the ministry of ecology in 2004. It monitored 152 beaches in 2007.
Spotlight on fluorescence
Escherischia coli is a bacteria that is a very good indicator of the water's faecal contamination and other micro-organisms currently undetectable by direct measurement.
The COLIPLAGE™ process uses the characteristics of an enzyme, Beta-D-glucuronidase, which is produced naturally by E. coli bacteria. To detect the activity of this enzyme, the use of a substance (Mu-Glu) is required, which is created artificially and degrades when in contact with this enzyme.
This degradation then results in the release of a molecule (MUF) which becomes fluorescent under UV rays. Rapid appearance of fluorescence therefore reflects high enzyme activity, due to the massive presence of E. coli bacteria, and therefore the contamination of bathing water.
Extract from the interview: Anne-Sophie Lepeuple, microbiologist and COLIPLAGE™ project leader at the time
"In research as in every other domain, it is easier for a team to come up with good ideas..(...) By tapping into Veolia's network, we learnt (...) that the Norwegians had developed a technique to evaluate the level of contamination of seawater ten years before...
Our main task was to turn thissophisticated laboratory analysis method into a field method easy to use on a large scale and which could be implemented very quickly.(...) we developed a partnership with two academic teams: the Banyuls Ocean Observatory and the Brussels Free University.. (...)Veolia's strength is to use everyone's skills to invent a new technology to meet unsatisfied needs: in the case of COLIPLAGE™, the daily knowledge of water quality."