Global Innovation Competition
FIRST has acknowledged that our solution would change the world.
Out of 23,000 teams, we were chosen to be one of the 20 to compete at the Global Innovation Award Competition. Praise the Lord!
The problem we found was that according to the director of California Waterboards, 1 out of every 30 swimmers are reported sick (and sometimes die) due to contaminated ocean water. The director of the county health department told us signs never reflect that day’s water quality because it takes 2-10 days for results to be updated. But, by that time, it’s not accurate anymore. Swimmers are being exposed to disease-causing bacteria and viruses by swimming in contaminated ocean water without knowing it.
With over 1,500 hours of research and analysis, and 3 lab tours, we developed a solution by first learning how the government currently addresses this serious health problem.
County labs test ocean water quality in 3 ways, but no existing solution provides real-time results and gets them to the public the day they need it.
Method 1: DNA testing uses a $100,000 machine that requires a PhD to run. It takes 2-24 hours due to processing time, but each test costs $250, which is too expensive.
Method 2: IDEXX powder trays use a $1500 machine to cultivate indicator bacteria, Enterococcus, for 24 hours. Each test costs $8 but processing time is 2-4 days, which is too slow.
Method 3: Membrane filtration uses a $2300 machine that cultivates 3 indicator bacterias (total and fecal coliform, and Enterococcus) for 24 hours. Each test costs $70 and processing time is 2-4 days, which is too expensive and slow!
The director of the county health department told us the ocean is tested only once a week, and never on weekends when the public uses it most.
EPA confirmed there are no tests providing on-site ocean water quality results soon enough to protect swimmers.
When researching ocean water quality tests, EPA, California Waterboards, and the county health department all pointed us to world renowned water quality expert, Dr. Steve Weisberg.
By working with Dr. Weisberg and other scientists from across the nation, we have, by God’s grace, designed an innovative solution that easily tests ocean water quality on-site, in one hour.
Our device consists of 6 off-the-shelf items: a pelican case, a test tube, an incubator, a battery pack, IDEXX powder, and a fluorometer (which uses a 365 nanometer wavelength of light that can detect bacteria contamination where the human eye cannot.)
Here’s how it works. The user collects a sample from the shoreline, pours it into a test tube, adds a tablet of IDEXX powder (a growth medium), shakes it, and places it into the device, where it heats to 95 degrees. After only one hour, the fluorometer reads the enterococcus contamination level and sends the results via bluetooth to a cell phone app, making the data available to everyone.
It’s fast, accurate, portable, and affordable. ($85 for the kit, 40 cents for each test.)
GPS-located, time-stamped results closer to real-time allows swimmers to know that day if the ocean is contaminated.
Putting our device into the hands of the public allows the ocean to be tested in multiple locations, multiple times a day.