SourceSentinel a Quantum Risk Solutions product
Designed in the UK Get in touch

Continuous private water supply monitoring

Between two water tests a year lies 363 days of silence.

SourceSentinel learns what your supply normally does, then tells you the moment it changes. A problem shows up in hours, not at the next scheduled visit.

Measures: the channels that change first Readings: every 30 minutes your water is running Built by: Quantum Risk Solutions

Turbidity · illustrative trace reading every 30 min
normal range, learned for this supply alert sent sample sample
Two scheduled samples cannot see an event that happens between them. Continuous measurement can. The trace above is illustrative, not recorded field data.

The gap in the current regime

Annual sampling gives one snapshot a year. Contamination does not wait for the appointment.

Under the Private Water Supplies Regulations 2016, most supplies are tested once or twice a year by the local authority, with results from an accredited laboratory returned days later. Cryptosporidium, E. coli and nitrate from agricultural sources can all rise sharply after rainfall. A supply contaminated on day two of a 365 day cycle can be consumed for a year before anyone knows.

0.01%
of public mains water tests show E. coli. For most of the country, safe water at the tap is simply assumed.
Drinking Water Inspectorate, 2024
~9%
of private supply samples in Wales contained E. coli in 2024 (210 of 2,342), hundreds of times the mains rate.
Drinking Water Inspectorate, Drinking Water 2024
~3%
of private supply samples in England contained E. coli in 2022, with 5.1 percent showing Enterococci.
Drinking Water Inspectorate, 2020 to 2022

What is at stake

When a supply fails, the cost lands on real people.

A contaminated private supply is not an abstract statistic. In one documented outbreak, 43 people fell ill with cryptosporidium and campylobacter after drinking from a private, untreated supply. Investigators traced it to three lamb carcasses in the supply's collection chamber and slurry washing in from nearby fields. Recipients of private supplies have faced waterborne outbreaks at rates estimated to be up to 35 times those on the public mains, and the people who carry that risk usually cannot see it coming.

Sources: Epidemiology and Infection, 1996 (Cambridge University Press); UK Health Security Agency outbreak review, England and Wales, 1992 to 2003.

if you own or run the supply
The liability is yours
  • A guest, resident or customer falls ill, and your supply is the likely source
  • Cancelled bookings, refunds, and reviews that stay online long after
  • Water used for food or drink that fails wholesomeness can breach food hygiene law
  • A boil-water notice, or a supply shut off, at your busiest time of year
  • In law you are the relevant person for the supply, and the duty rests with you
if you regulate it
The public health duty is yours
  • Thousands of supplies across a large rural area, each seen once or twice a year
  • Contamination that is invisible between visits, reaching people before a sample does
  • Investigation and enforcement after the event, rather than warning before it
  • Public scrutiny when a supply on your patch makes someone ill

What it measures

The channels that change first when a supply changes.

SourceSentinel measures indicators that change when supply quality changes. These are recognised surrogates for risk. They flag when something needs a closer look, and when an accredited sample should be brought forward.

01 / turbidity
Turbidity
NTU

The primary surrogate for microbiological contamination under drinking water standards. A sharp rise often follows rainfall driven ingress.

02 / conductivity
Conductivity
µS/cm

Detects mineralisation changes and possible ingress, including saline intrusion, that shift the character of the water.

03 / temperature
Temperature
°C

Context for the other readings and a factor in microbiological risk. Recorded alongside every measurement.

04 / flow
Flow
is this water moving?

Water standing still in a pipe is not your supply. SourceSentinel measures when water is actually running, so a reading means something.

Option
05 / pH
pH
0-14

A core wholesomeness parameter. Available as an addition where fuller parameter coverage is wanted, with a shorter calibration cycle.

the point
Your normal, not a textbook's
every supply is different

A reading that is unremarkable at one borehole is a warning at another. SourceSentinel learns your supply's own pattern, so it catches changes a fixed threshold would miss.

The system

What SourceSentinel does, end to end.

More than a sensor. SourceSentinel is a monitoring system. It measures, checks every reading against the limits that matter, raises the alarm when something is wrong, and turns a year of data into a report the local authority can read.

continuous measurement
Always on

Records turbidity, conductivity and temperature from a single point on the supply, every thirty minutes that water is running, day and night.

automated alerting
Told the moment it matters

Every reading is measured against what is normal for your supply. A significant departure sends an immediate alert to the people who need to know.

live dashboard
The whole picture

A secure dashboard shows current readings and full history, so a supply's behaviour over weeks and seasons is visible at a glance.

reporting
Ready for the regulator

Produces a quarterly summary of how your supply has behaved and every change worth knowing about, ready to share with your local authority, without manual collation.

resilient connectivity
Built for remote supplies

Sends data over cellular, and where there is no signal at all it still raises the alarm at the supply itself. A rural borehole is not a blind spot.

secure data
Yours, and protected

Data is held in the United Kingdom under UK GDPR, with security practices drawn from Quantum Risk Solutions' cybersecurity work.

Two views of the same supply

A clear picture for the owner. A shared view for the regulator.

SourceSentinel is built first for the people who depend on the supply. With their agreement, the same data can give the local authority a window onto the supplies it oversees.

for the supply owner
Know your own water

Most owners have no idea what their water is doing between annual tests. SourceSentinel gives holiday lets, campsites, care homes, schools and farms a continuous, plain-language picture of their supply, early warning the moment something changes, and a record that shows they are on top of it, so they can act before a problem ever reaches a guest, resident or customer.

for the local authority
A window on the supplies you oversee

No authority can visit thousands of supplies more than once or twice a year. With owner consent, SourceSentinel turns a set of annual snapshots into ongoing oversight, giving environmental health teams a live view across participating supplies and pointing scarce sampling effort at those that most need it, at little or no cost to the authority.

How it works

From the borehole to a report the local authority can read.

STEP 01
Install at the supply
Fitted at a post-pump sampling point on the supply, and mains powered.
STEP 02
Measure every 30 min
Calibrated sensor circuits record all parameters. Data buffers locally where signal is poor.
STEP 03
Learn what is normal
Every supply is different. SourceSentinel builds a picture of your water's usual range, then watches for departures from it.
STEP 04
Alert and dashboard
A significant change alerts nominated contacts, and sounds an alarm at the supply even if the network is down. History is on a secure dashboard.
STEP 05
Quarterly report
A summary of your supply's behaviour and every event detected, produced automatically and ready to share.

Where it fits, plainly stated

An early warning layer. Not a replacement for accredited testing.

We are precise about this, because the regulatory boundary matters. The accredited laboratory sample remains the compliance measurement. SourceSentinel makes the programme around it more responsive and better targeted.

What it does
  • Gives early warning of quality changes between statutory samples
  • Helps prioritise where sampling effort should go across a large area
  • Builds a continuous evidence base to support risk assessment
  • Alerts nominated contacts the moment a parameter breaches its limit
What it does not do
  • Measure microbiology directly, such as E. coli, coliforms or Cryptosporidium
  • Produce accredited results, or serve as a compliance determination
  • Remove or reduce the statutory duty to sample and analyse
  • Replace the accredited laboratory this work depends on

Built by Quantum Risk Solutions

A UK engineering and assurance team, not a single product startup.

A safety product is only as good as the people behind it. Three of Quantum Risk Solutions' strengths sit at the core of SourceSentinel: cybersecurity, so your supply data is held safely and privately; calibrated sensing, so the readings can be trusted; and a working knowledge of water regulation, so the output is something a local authority will accept. It is designed, built and supported in the United Kingdom, by a team with a background in regulated, high assurance work.

Secure data handling Calibrated sensing Regulatory reporting UK designed and supported

Who it is for

Built for the people responsible for a private supply.

If your property, business or community draws water from a borehole, spring or rainwater system, SourceSentinel gives you a continuous picture of its quality, and the evidence to show it is being looked after.

  • Holiday lets, campsites and hospitality on a private supply
  • Care homes, schools and farms serving others from their own source
  • Estate managers and letting agents responsible for multiple supplies
  • Local authorities seeking oversight of supply quality across their area

Talk to us

If SourceSentinel fits a supply you are responsible for, or a programme you run, we would like to hear from you.

  • Owners and operators   continuous monitoring as a service
  • Local authorities   an optional view across monitored supplies
  • Your data   yours, held securely under UK GDPR
  • Based   designed and supported in the United Kingdom
Get in touch

[email protected]