The EC Kit 2.0 is intended to be the next generation easy-to-use, portable, low-cost test for E. coli detection in water samples. It is the particularly designed for simplicity and is appropriate for use in remote and low resource settings.  

Six potential EC-Kit 2.0 products are being tested in Nepal during January 2019 alone or in combination. We will use IDEXX Quanti-Tray® as the standard reference against which to test these products in order to determine which product or combination of products best meets the test criteria for the EC-Kit 2.0.

The six products are:

1. Presence/Absence Hydrogen Sulfide Bacteria (H₂S) Vials by EcoConcern                                (8 mL and 20 mL sample size) 
2. Compact Dry ECO (1 mL sample size)
3. Compact Dry ECO (100 mL sample size using membrane filtration method)
4. ECC (1 mL and 10 mL sample size using Presence/Absence method)
5. TestDropPro by Lishtot (100 mL)
6. Resorufin β-D-glucuronide (REG) (100 mL) (on hold until we resolve some use issues )

These products will be tested on the basis of the following criteria:

Product Selection Criteria

Sample Collection

During the month of January 2019, environmental water samples will collected directly from water sources throughout Kathmandu Valley, including river water, stone tap and spring water, well water, wastewater, jar water and food vendor truck water, focusing on water sources assumed to potentially contain E.coli bacteria. Our purpose is not to perform specific surveillance of drinking water quality, but rather to test and compare potential EC-Kit products using local Nepali water sources.

Water samples will be collected into 1 L sterile plastic sample bottles. As we will be collecting samples from natural water supplies within Kathmandu, we anticipate most samples will not be chlorinated.