Polish town uses Mussels to detect contaminants in public water

Record ID: 101595

  • Title: Polish town uses Mussels to detect contaminants in public water
  • Date: 27th May 2016
  • Summary: RZESZOW, POLAND (MAY 24, 2016) (REUTERS) WATER INTAKE ON WISLOK RIVER FOR RZESZOW CITY MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLY (MPWIK) WATER INTAKE WATER TESTING LABORATORY BUILDING WORKERS OF MPWIK AT MUSSEL TANK FLASHLIGHT IN HAND MUSSEL WITH VISIBLE ORIFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) SENIOR CHEMIST IN THE CENTRAL LABORATORY OF MPWIK IN RZESZOW, EWA SOLECKA, SAYING "We need to provide the muss
  • Embargoed: 11th June 2016 08:56
  • Keywords: water cleaning animals pollution
  • Location: RZESZOW, POLAND
  • City: RZESZOW, POLAND
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: Human Interest/Brights/Odd News,Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA0014JKZK1L
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Residents of Rzeszow, a town in south-eastern Poland, have a new ally in keeping their water supply clean.
    The local waterworks, which provide the city with potable water from a local river, has set up a laboratory that uses mussels to measure levels of pollutants.
    Around the world bivalves are already used for cleaning contaminated reservoirs thanks to their filtration abilities, but in Rzeszow they are connected to a series of sensors which measure the mussel's reaction to sudden changes in its environment.
    Mussels are sensitive to any sign of chemical pollution and react immediately, by temporarily closing the orifices they use to filter water in and out of the shell.
    "We need to provide the mussels with stress-free conditions, that's why they live in a special closed aquarium where light or sound can't reach them, where they can fully focus exclusively on their work. Normally the diagram is straight, and when pollution is discovered, it is signalled by a peak on the diagram," the chemist in charge of the project, Ewa Solecka, said.
    Solecka showed a diagram measuring the mussels' activity, with a visible spike at the moment when their tank was opened and light was allowed inside. The same would happen if a contaminant toxic to humans would appear in the water, sounding an alarm.
    The bivalves used in Rzeszow to monitor the water are eight Swollen River Mussels, or Unio tumidus.
    They regulate intake of water and if a contaminant is discovered, an orifice on the crack of their shell is temporarily closed and metabolism slows down allowing them to survive for several hours without food and oxygen.
    "Mussels work as bio-indicators, these are organisms which have certain tolerance and certain vulnerability to certain factors in a given environment. These are mostly chemical factors, such as: heavy metal compounds, petroleum-derived substances, pesticides used in farming as well as compounds of cyanide or phenol," technologist Maria Tendera said.
    The substances to which the bivalves are particularly sensitive to are mercury, copper and cadmium and also heightened levels of iron, chlorine and ammonium nitrogen.
    In order for the mussels to preserve the right sensitivity level to changes of environment in the laboratory, they must be acquired from areas where water is the least contaminated.
    After serving at the Rzeszow laboratory for three months, the mussels retire back into their original habitat, rather than land on a plate as a tasty treat.
    The waterworks using the new warning system supply Rzeszow and also five nearby districts, totalling an area of 220,000 residents.
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