Management and use of beneficial bacterial biofilms to control aquatic pathogens, for reliable chemical-free sanitisation of swimming pools. .

The swimming pool filtration market (worth 3.2bn) currently lacks chemical-free alternatives despite

customers’ demands of healthier, easier and cheaper solutions to pool water treatment. This project helps to

fully realise the mass market potential for natural bio-filter based water treatment technology, through

innovative and robust scientific research and development into aquatic pathogen behaviour and control using

bio-films. Project Objectives: Determine how our biofilms reduce levels of waterborne pathogens; ascertain

whether bio-films housed within a bio-filter allow re-introduction of pathogens in water; develop optimal

habitats & management of biofilms to maximise pathogen removal; & quantify pathogen survival rates on full-

scale filtration models. The invaluable knowledge gained during the project will enable a set of optimised

operational parameters (eg: optimal PH/ flow rates) and substrate properties (eg pore size, depth), which

maximise the efficiency, repeatability and reliability of biofilm performance (w.r.t. pathogen control) for real-

world conditions.