Having recently published an article in AWWA Water Science, Amina Stoddart answered questions from the publication's editor-in-chief, Kenneth L. Mercer, about the research. An Automated and High-Throughput Method for Adenosine Triphosphate Quantification Fatou Secka, Nicole E. Allward, and Graham Gagnon I am an assistant professor in the Centre for Water Resources Studies in the Department of Civil and Resource Engineering at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada. Our team has broad research interests in the water and wastewater treatment space. Our team members can often be found in our local wastewater treatment plants working on process optimization or testing new treatment and monitoring strategies. Amina hikes near Morden, Nova Scotia. I was introduced to water research as an undergraduate student at Acadia University. I was offered an undergraduate student research assistant position by my favorite professor and now my friend and colleague, Dr. Jennie Rand. I was responsible for collecting drinking water samples from a local water system and doing chemical and microbiological water quality analyses. I loved visiting the treatment plant and pumping station and learning how the system worked. My favorite days continue to be those that I spend onsite in water and wastewater treatment plants. Amina, a kayaking enthusiast, navigates the Bay of Fundy. Students (left to right) Sydney Lowe, Gillian Stanton, and Madison Gouthro take a break from operating a wastewater pilot plant at the Dartmouth Wastewater Treatment Plant in Halifax. Photo by Gillian M.L. Stanton Amina and her dog Mel enjoy an afternoon at her converted shipping container cabin. Water samples should be analyzed for microbiological parameters without delay to ensure that they remain representative of the water quality at the time the sample was taken. This work was led by our students, Fatou Secka and Nicole Allward, and their goal was to automate ATP analysis so that many samples could be analyzed in a high-throughput manner, reducing overall operator involvement and analysis time. I am an avid kayaker and love to explore lakes and coastlines by kayak. Effective wastewater treatment is a key component to ensuring that these spaces remain unpolluted and available to be enjoyed now and into the future. Anytime we can assess the microbiological quality of drinking water quickly and easily, we are taking a step to protect public health. Health Canada recently revised its document, Guidance on the Use of Heterotrophic Plant Counts in Canadian Drinking Water Supplies, to recognize other metrics that can be used to assess biological stability in drinking water distribution systems (now Health Canada's Guidance on Monitoring the Biological Stability of Drinking Water in Distribution Systems). ATP was included in this document as a suggested parameter/method to assess the biological stability. It is anticipated that our method could be of use to utilities that may generate a significant number of ATP samples. I grew up in Nova Scotia. I lived in its capital city, Halifax, for many years while I was attending Dalhousie University and continue to travel there every day for work. Halifax is surrounded by the beautiful Halifax Harbour. Unfortunately, when I was growing up, the harbour was well known locally for its poor water quality as a result of many years of direct discharge of raw sewage. Treatment systems have since been put in place and the harbour water quality has improved significantly. However, there is still work to be done. My first major grant as an assistant professor involves a partnership with Halifax Water in which we are investigating treatment optimization strategies to improve effluent water quality at the wastewater treatment plants that discharge into the harbour. I live in rural Nova Scotia with my partner Jordan, our daughter Willa, our dog Mel, and our horses Jac, Rob, and Brie. We love spending our free time horseback riding, kayaking, hiking, and working in our vegetable gardens. On weekends we like to spend time relaxing near the ocean in our converted shipping container cabin.