MEDIA RELEASE
Kiwi Company Aims To Keep Water In The Clear
A small Kiwi company, B2P Limited, has developed a novel, low-cost, high speed solution to the global problem of
determining whether water is safe to drink. B2P’s twin testing kits – Watercheck and Coliquik™ – allow anyone, without
access to laboratory equipment or trained operators, to test water for harmful coliform bacteria.
Where traditional testing procedures need four days to return a definitive and confirmed result, by which time thousands
of people may have come into contact with the contaminated water, Watercheck can reveal gross coliform contamination in
drinking water in as little as two hours.
Rosemary Sharpin, Chief Executive of B2P, says there is a global demand for easy-to-use, inexpensive methods for water
testing.
“World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines for drinking water quality state that coliform bacteria should not be
present in drinking water. Watercheck can indicate the complete absence of coliforms in a 100ml sample after 14 hours
and gross contamination in just two hours.”
Sharpin says that because clean water is as necessary for producing safe processed food and beverages as it is for
drinking, the company has developed a second product called Coliquik, which tests salt, treated and chemically
contaminated water as well as foods.
“We can now provide complete kits for testing liquids, powders, cultured foods and solid foods,” says Sharpin.”
The product can detect the presence of E.coli, Klebsiella and Enterobacter species of coliforms as well as Salmonella
bacteria. Coliquik is so sensitive even a single coliform in a sample will produce a positive result in less than 12
hours.
Sharpin anticipates wide ranging applications for the testing kits which provide conclusive results as the sample turns
pink to indicate the presence of coliforms and remains blue if the sample is safe.
“One of the few achievements of the recent World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg was for the
participants to reach agreement to halve the number of people without access to clean water and proper sanitation by
2015. At present forty percent of the world’s population (2.4 billion) does not have access to clean drinking water and
nearly 6000 children die every day from conditions like diarrhoea because they have nowhere safe to go to the toilet and
no clean water,” she says.
It is estimated that it would cost between US$19 billion and US$34 billion per year to halve the number of people
without a safe water supply by 2015.
“Our products are suitable for testing drinking water at source and also for testing food as it is prepared for
consumption. Our customers are not just those working in Third World countries but local authorities and food producers
here in New Zealand.”
B2P hopes its easy-to-use and cost-effective products will contribute to the successful attainment of the WSSD’s goal –
saving lives in the process.
About B2P
B2P is a New Zealand based company that develops and manufactures food- and water-testing products for use by government
and industry worldwide. Its products are designed to provide a cost-effective, accurate and reliable means of testing
water quality in nations and environments which may not readily have access to sophisticated laboratory equipment and
trained technicians. B2P’s principal products are WaterCheck and Coliquik and RCT.