Being in the sewers are no fun at all, despite all the adventure that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles seem to advocate. You don’t know what kind of vile creatures that live underneath there, not to mention the cesspool of water that stinks to the high heavens. Not only that, sewers also pose a potential danger in the future – where dirty bombs could be planted there, and it is going to be really difficult in weeding them out. This is where the EU-funded project known as Emphasis comes in, where it will attempt to design a network of hi-tech sensors for sewers.
This particular network is capable of detecting the kind of chemicals that are used to come up with homemade explosives, and most of the time, such chemicals tend to end up in the wastewater. After all, there is a need to rinse the equipment that one uses at home down the drain, and this is where the Emphasis system comes in.
The sensors are capable of detecting various traces of the ingredients that are used in order to make the explosives. Such sensors will detect minute traces of the bomb ingredients, capable of recording details such as their concentration levels, not to mention the time and location detected. This information will then be set out to the local authorities, where the relevant steps will then be taken. Could this be a foolproof method of counter-terrorism? No, but at least it is a start, and in an unconventional manner, too.
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