Expeditionary Water Quality Sensors

SBIR topic DON27BZ02-NV017 (U.S. Department of Defense – Navy), Phase I and II. Open to U.S. small businesses. Opens: December 2, 2026. Closes: January 6, 2027. Expeditionary forces need updated water testing capabilities to support operations in austere, contested environments. Without proper water testing, water purified in the field are not certified potable for consumption. This creates an unacceptable logistics burden to transport water, or a health risks when consuming untested water; hindering the self-sufficiency, readiness, and lethality required for operations against a pacing challenge. Current approved state-of-the-art water quality testing kits are accurate but cumbersome, and overly complex, requiring chemical reagents, significant operator training, and for some parameters shipping to a certified lab. Present water quality testing methods are not practical for the small, distributed Stand-in Forces operating in expeditionary conditions. In the event of detection of certain pathogens and contaminants, confirmation through certified laboratories may be required, necessitating sample transportation to CONUS, host-nation, or ally facilities—a process that can take 4-6 weeks. Delays of this magnitude are operationally unacceptable for forces in contested environments that need immediate assurance of water safety at the point of use. In addition, many critical parameters that impact water safety—including heavy metals, organic chemicals, and other contaminants—are not reliably tested with currently fielded sensors. Force Design 2030 compels distributed forces to reduce their reliance on centralized logistics convoys; therefore, small units are increasingly required to produce and consume water at the tactical edge and at the point of need. Without a reliable and practical method to verify water quality in the field, these units face an alarming tradeoff between logistics supply certainty and warfighter health. Therefore, the Navy needs simple,…