From Plate to Pixel – Faster Decisions for Safe and Sustainable Water Use
We are facing a decisive shift in how we should monitor water quality. New methods enable real-time analysis and create the conditions for safe drinking water and circular water management, where water is recycled and used more intelligently.
Today, water quality control often relies on methods that take several days to deliver results. In an era marked by climate change, increasing water scarcity, digitalisation and a deteriorating security situation, this is no longer sufficient.
The project From Plate to Pixel addresses the challenge of transforming how we measure, interpret and use information about water quality – moving from slow, analogue methods to fast, digital and data-driven solutions.
Project Challenges
Water is a fundamental prerequisite for society – for drinking water supply, food production, industry, agriculture and emergency preparedness. Despite this, there is currently no way to determine in real time whether water is microbiologically safe to use. The delays inherent in current analysis methods mean that we react slowly to disruptions and often use high-quality drinking water in situations where lower quality would have been sufficient.
At the same time, new analytical methods are developing rapidly, such as molecular biological techniques like flow cytometry and qPCR. These can provide detailed and sometimes continuous information on water quality, but for these methods to deliver real benefits, more than technological development is needed – we must create robust decision-making tools, understand organisational implications and influence policies and legislation.
Project Approach
The project is therefore establishing a transition lab – a long-term collaborative environment where end-users, authorities, researchers, innovators and technology developers jointly test, interpret and implement new ways of working with microbial water quality. The starting point is the real needs of water users, with a focus on creating solutions that work in practice and can be scaled up and disseminated. The transition lab will act as a catalyst for innovation.
The work includes testing and validating new analytical technologies in real environments, developing methods to interpret large datasets and convert them into actionable decision support, as well as exploring how legislation, organisational structures and business models need to evolve to enable the transition. The project also has an international outlook and serves as a hub for knowledge exchange, innovation and dissemination.
Examples of Project Activities
- Testing and validation of rapid digital water quality analysis methods
- Development of digital tools and AI-supported methods for interpreting analysis data
- Analysis of how regulations and practices can be adapted to keep pace with new technology
- Supporting organisations in developing new working methods and competencies
- Horizon scanning and international collaboration
- Dissemination, replication and scaling to more actors and sectors
The project is led by the water and wastewater sector but brings together a wide range of stakeholders: food industry, agriculture, process industry, authorities and research organisations – all working together to test, develop and implement new solutions that are relevant both nationally and internationally.
The project is funded via Water Wise Societies – part of the Impact Innovation initiative, which is financed by the Swedish Energy Agency (Energimyndigheten), Vinnova, and Formas.
