Bactinetic: a kinetic chromogenic on-site test assay for rapid and accurate measurement of bacterial load in heavily contaminated water.

A portable test kit turns a water sample a specific colour to reveal how much bacteria is present, delivering results on site within minutes. This matters because standard lab-based tests for bacterial contamination can take days to return results, leaving communities or aid workers in the dark about whether water is safe to drink. The current process also requires expensive equipment and trained technicians, which is often unavailable in remote or disaster-stricken areas where water sources are heavily contaminated. If the assay works as intended, it could change how water safety is managed in the field. Instead of waiting for samples to travel to a lab, a responder could test a well, a river, or a storage tank on the spot and make an immediate decision about treatment or use. This would speed up responses to outbreaks of waterborne disease and reduce reliance on centralised infrastructure. The technology is a kinetic chromogenic system, meaning the speed of colour change correlates with bacterial load, giving a quantitative result rather than a simple yes-or-no. The project is focused on engineering a practical device for real-world use, not on fundamental discovery.