UA Developing Water Quality Tests With Technology from NOWDiagnostics

Springdale-based firm NOWDiagnostics Inc. is working with a group of students from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville to develop a fast- and-easy water quality testing device for the Environmental Protection Agency.

Specifically, it was the students from the UA department of chemical engineering who were awarded a grant from the EPA to develop the tests, the goal of which are to test water in developing countries around the world for determine if the water contains bacteria or other harmful contaminants.

“There are major water quality problems all over the world,” Kevin Clark, CEO of NOWDiagnostics, said in a press release announcing the partnership between the company and the university students. “Current water testing methods can be cumbersome and expensive. We are honored to help these students with this important work, which has the potential to save lives across the globe.”

For its part, NOWDiagnostics manufactures and sells a line of rapid tests that allow health care providers to conduct testing for a variety of conditions and diseases.

This joint project is funded through the EPA’s “People, Prosperity and the Planet Student Design” competition. The project, which will be completed this month when the students present their findings to the EPA, is led by Dr. Robert Beitle, professor of chemical engineering at the UA. 

“I am certainly proud of the work these students are doing, and we are incredibly grateful to NOWDiagnostics for offering their technology and lab space for our use throughout this project,” Beitle said in the release.