WatchFrog, a spin-off of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, has developed smart biosensors to rapidly assess the quality of the water that leaves wastewater treatment plants and its impact on biodiversity.
In partnership with Veolia Environnement they have produced a tool to identify the presence of endocrinedisrupters (such as thyroid, estrogen and adrenocorticotropic hormones) in wastewater through the fluorescence of parts of fish larvae or tadpoles.
Thanks to this innovative tool, frog larvae fluoresce when they are disturbed by these pollutants. The greater the disturbance, the brighter the fluorescence.
The purpose of this new partnership between Veolia and WatchFrog is the production and commercialization of this measurement tool that will help to measure the elimination of these pollutants in wastewater treatment processes.
Veolia's existing proprietary tertiary wastewater treatment technologies, including ActifloCarb, remove emerging micro pollutants such as endocrine disruptors. Combined with the oxidizing action of ozone, the process can eliminate more than 95 % of endocrine disruptors and their byproducts.
The information provided by this testing process will allow fine-tuning of the ActifloCarb wastewater treatment process.
Pending the implementation of new EU legislation related to endocrine disruptors, Veolia Environnement and WatchFrog have decided to combine their expertise and technologies to improve public health and reduce environmental impact.
Veolia Environnement
Veolia Environnement (Paris Euronext: VIE and NYSE: VE) is the worldwide reference in environmental solutions. With 220,000 employees*, the company has operations all around the world and provides tailored solutions to meet the needs of municipal and industrial customers in three complementary segments: water management, waste management and energy management. Veolia Environnement recorded revenue of €29.4 billion* in 2012.
(*) Excluding Transdev employees and revenues currently under divestment
Contact
Stéphane Galfré
Tel: + 33 (0)1 71 75 19 27
[email protected]
Sandrine Guendoul
Tel: + 33 1 71 75 12 52
[email protected]