Flowcam automatically takes high-resolution, full colour digital images of every particle and cell in a fluid and saves them with their corresponding data sets for instant display and analysis
The phone was ringing off the hook with angry complaints," says Betsy Reilley-Matthews of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, (MWRA), recalling a recent algal bloom in the reservoir that had eluded the authority's monitoring program, triggering a top to bottom reassessment of the monitoring programme and a review of myriad potential solutions.
Reilley-Matthews, senior programme manager, water quality assurance for the MWRA, considered buoy-based monitors as well as several types of imaging instrumentation before purchasing the Flowcam imaging and analysis system.
"The Flowcam is ahead of any type of monitoring system on the market today," says Reilley-Matthews.
"There's a lot of power in there".
Operated by a single technician, Flowcam eliminates the time- and labour-intensive microscopy process the MWRA used in the past along with its manual cell counts and visual inspections.
Its pattern recognition software identifies and classifies algal species, automatically differentiating the harmless cells from those that pose a threat.
"It essentially eliminates the chance for human error and accelerates the whole process," says Reilley-Matthews.
"Now we can do in minutes what used to take days and be more confident in the data when taking action".
By detecting and treating the algae before it escalates into a troublesome bloom, the problem can be negated using less copper sulphate at less cost long before any customers are affected.
The Flowcam's imaging system is triggered by a laser exciting the natural fluorescence of each algal cell rather than merely photographing the sample at timed intervals.
This makes it virtually impossible to overlook any algal cells while yielding data with unprecedented accuracy.
