Ensuring a high quality of drinking water is a central requirement for health and consumer protection. Regular examinations of the quality and indicator parameters specified in the Drinking Water Ordinance and other legal regulations ensure compliance with high safety standards. For this purpose, numerous water samples are analyzed daily in specialized laboratories and by water suppliers.

The examination of drinking and process water includes both chemical and microbiological analyses. Due to the multitude of different parameters, numerous specialized examination procedures are used. At the same time, the increasing shortage of skilled workers poses a challenge for laboratories to deploy staff flexibly across various analysis areas. Despite high sample numbers and largely standardized examination methods, a large part of the analytics is still carried out manually; automation solutions predominantly exist only for individual process steps.

Against this background, the joint project SmartAQAlab is developing a semi-automated assistance system for the multiparametric examination of drinking and process water samples. The aim is to support laboratory personnel through a consistently digitized and assistance-supported process management, without replacing the expertise of humans. At the same time, the efficiency, standardization, and traceability of laboratory processes should be significantly improved.

The system integrates the collection of biological and chemical indicator parameters as well as all relevant metadata in a central database. Thanks to a modular hardware and software architecture, the solution can be flexibly adapted to different laboratory sizes, analysis scopes, and sample throughput.

A key research focus is on the development of optical methods for the detection and differentiation of biological key parameters. This aims to enable a more comprehensive characterization of the bacterial contamination of water samples. Additionally, a method for the automated concentration of microbial components from the liquid sample matrix is being developed. This technology creates the conditions for largely automated microbial drinking water analytics. Furthermore, an innovative cleaning strategy helps to significantly reduce the use of disposable materials and thus conserve resources.

After the completion of the project, the marketing of the overall system as well as individual hardware and software components is planned by the participating medium-sized companies. SmartAQAlab thus makes an important contribution to the digitization, automation, and sustainability of modern water analytics.