A Clever Smartphone Attachment Will Show if Water Is Contaminated

Such a tool may soon be a reality, if astronomers from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands have their say. They are attachment that makes it ridiculously, comically easy to measure the quality of water by pointing the tool at it, nothing more.

The tool’s primary purpose isn’t just so that you can whet your whistle in any lake, river, or creek you deem tasty-looking — quick and precise measurements of water pollution can be hugely beneficial for science. This kind of data can steer environmental policies on a national level. Citizens can tell if their drinking water is contaminated. Fishermen are able to determine the quality of their catch, and how pollution could affect local fish populations. Polluted water can even determine human migration patterns by forcing fishermen to move or give up their trade altogether.

There’s a precedent that have researchers hopeful. In 2013, the same team of astronomers and toxicologists developed the SPEX (Spectropolarimeter for Planetary EXploration) — a smartphone attachment that can measure air pollution. Dutch citizens, along with people in cities from Athens to London, took thousands of measurements of the particulates in the air. The result: a detailed map of dust particles over the Netherlands and beyond.

The technology behind the smartphone attachment actually is a spin-off of sophisticated astronomy technology that can tell if oxygen is present on planets around other stars. This also foregoes the need to take local samples and send them back to the lab — a relatively expensive process that can take a lot longer.

But water presents different challenges. The color of the water can be influenced by a variety of factors, including weather. Strong winds can stir up sediment, and clouds can block the sun, making the water appear darker. By having local residents take measurements on the ground, the measurements won’t have to cut through cloud cover and other weather patterns. Participants are also asked to take a picture of the sky above the water to calibrate the readings.

The technology is still in its early stages, and at least a couple of years away. The hope is to combine cutting-edge astronomy technology with environmental science to create a device that’s both easy to use and is capable of measuring the quality of surface water accurately.

Snik and his team are expecting the device to be ready for its initial deployment by late 2019, and will release 3D models, so anybody with a 3D printer can build one for themselves.