Principals of the firm became aware that even the best filtration systems were vulnerable to a serious shortcoming -- the contaminants they purport to remove eventually saturate the filter and break through into the user's water flow. There was no safeguard mechanism to alert the consumer. To remedy that, they set out to develop an ion-detecting monitor that would detect break-through of the ion exchange resins, the filtration media used for removing heavy metals, arsenic and nitrates in a filter. BNC's first sensor employing a quartz crystal microbalance was fabricated at Case Western in Cleveland. Although the company had an interesting laboratory device, it was still a long way from a product. The next steps were to bring technical people in-house and expand BNC's collaborative relationships. The advent of the Brims Ness monitors represents a paradigm shift in the water industry. They will automate the monitoring process, eliminating the danger of undetected contamination spikes. Additionally, they will effect cost reductions the magnitude of which will compel many fundamental changes in existing processes and increase the standards of purity to which water processes are held.
