Naturally occurring and human-influenced pollution incidents often lead to an increase in harmful levels of organic material in surface and ground waters. This creates a significant threat to potable water quality as well as to the equipment used in treatment plants dependant on these sources. AstraGuard rapidly and continuously measures the UV absorbance of water and gives an instant indication of organic pollution, much faster than other methods, such as TOC and COD, which were primarily developed for laboratory analyses. With no moving parts and a sealed optical system AstraGuard from AstraNet (UK) requires little maintenance and has been proven as an intake protection device at many locations in the UK.
Along with organics AstraGuard can monitor colour and turbidity as well, enabling waste and effluent to be checked for discharge compliance. Enhanced sensitivity is offered by the long path-length flow cell that is linked to the instrument by fibre-optic cables; enabling flexibility in location and ease of access to all parts of the system. Stand alone logging or automatic control through SCADA/PLC systems is supported.