New York and San Francisco use fish to monitor drinking water
In airports German Shepherds are used to protect civilians from contaminants, bomb making materials, narcotics, etc.; In two cities, however, fish are doing the detecting by monitoring drinking water
New York and San Francisco have begun using the IAC 1090 Intelligent Aquatic BioMonitoring System (iABS), developed by Poway, California-based
Intelligent Automation Corporation (IAC), CA to protect public drinking
water from contamination and potential terrorism incidents. The U.S. Army is
using the system at Fort Detrick, Maryland. The U.S. Army Center for
Environmental Health Research (USACEHR), the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), and the Department of Defense Legacy Program are development partners of the device.
The system uses nature’s own assets to keep an eye on water quality.
Specifically, bluegill sunfish (in Europe the fish is known as bream). The
company has married the fish’s own sensibilities to a technology which has
been developed during the past thirty years, throwing in state-of-the art IT
and automation technologies. If the fish detects toxic conditions in the
water, an alarm is triggered and the IAC 1090 is prompted to take a series
of water samples. In addition, the system automatically notifies appropriate
staff by phone or e-mail, and may even shut off the water entirely in
certain circumstances. The system can operate in a networked or stand-alone configuration, and may be monitored from afar via modem of the Internet.
The iABS monitors fish behavior by using a pair of non-contact electrodes
mounted above and below each of eight bluegills. As the fish move in the
chamber and ventilate their gills, muscle contractions generate electrical
signals in the water, and these signals are monitored by a computer. When
abnormal fish behavior is identified, the iABS provides immediate alarm
notification and can start an automated water sampler to permit follow-up
chemical analysis.
The company claims that, in tests, the system has demonstrated a record of
zero false positives. San Francisco has purchased three units at $110,000
each. It is not known how many units New York has purchased.
-read more in this Defenseindustrydaily
report; read more about the
1090 iABS at company Web
