WASHINGTON – Today, June 20, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the results of Phase Two of the Water Toxicity Sensor Challenge. The challenge winner, Aqua Science, LLC, is receiving a prize of $105,000 for their innovative system, BioLight Toxy, that uses a bioluminescent bacterium that responds when exposed to toxins in water.
“Congratulations to the winner of the Water Toxicity Sensor Challenge for advancing an innovative water technology that offers the promise of addressing a difficult environmental problem,” said Chris Frey, EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Research and Development. “The prize-winning technological solution has the potential to advance how we monitor and protect one of our most vital resources, ensuring the safety and sustainability of our water supplies.”
Contaminants such as pesticides, personal care products and other chemical pollutants can increase toxicity in water, creating exposure concerns for humans and aquatic organisms. These chemicals can disrupt the body’s normal functions like breathing and cause chronic diseases and harmful health effects. Using existing methods, it can be costly to detect and identify many of these contaminants and often requires specialized laboratories and personnel, and extensive time. If the identity of the contaminants is unknown, it can be even more difficult to detect them.
To help improve methods for monitoring water toxicity, EPA and partners developed the Water Toxicity Sensor Challenge to encourage solvers to create new, effective solutions. The challenge consisted of two stages, first the concept design and then prototype development. Phase One Challenge participants submitted written concepts explaining how their proposed system could detect the activation of toxic pathways when exposed to various harmful chemicals or natural toxins.
During Phase Two of the challenge, which was open to all, solvers submitted a description of a prototype sensor and the results of initial testing of its ability to detect toxicity in water. The Challenge Committee selected finalists based on several criteria including the device’s ability to detect the presence of toxicity with quantitative data and for the device to be easy to use. Finalists were required to have their systems tested by an approved third-party evaluator for consideration for the final prize.
The winning sensor, BioLight Toxy was selected based on both the initial data from the prototype and the results of the third-party evaluation.
Challenge Winner:
BioLight Toxy is a system that can be used in the field or the lab that measures the light levels of a bacterium to determine the toxicity of a sample. Proposed by Iwona Evans, Owner/CEO, Aqua Science LLC, Newark, Delaware. Read the full description of the winning solution.
Honorable Mention:
SCENTINEL is a prototype that uses a paper sensor containing bioluminescent bacteria. Water samples are added to wells in the sensor and the level of bioluminescence emitted, which depends on the level of toxicity, can be captured by a smartphone. This prototype was developed by Professor Elisa Michelini, Dept of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician”, University of Bologna, Italy.
The Water Toxicity Sensor Challenge is a collaborative effort of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Geological Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, the Greater Cincinnati Water Works, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and The Water Research Foundation.