Welcome back! Here is my epiphany of the day: who knew that a meme page on Instagram could be so educational? If you do not know what a meme page is, do not worry because that is not the point of this post. What is more important is that the Earth is a truly amazing one, and so are clams.
I was simply scrolling through my Instagram feed and stumbled upon this post from a page that I follow and realised it is so related to our study of pollution! This post is not quite related to our theme of tourism, nonetheless, I am sure you will learn a thing or 2 about water pollution just like I have.
In a time when we are scrambling to find technological and innovative breakthroughs to solve our problems, whether big or small, we tend to forget that the answer to our problems may sometimes come from a natural source.
Take for example, these clams that are being used as water quality measures. These ‘bioindicators’ give a reliable estimation of the water quality in a water treatment plant in Poznan, a city in Poland. Like what is shown in the picture above, sensors are attached to eight mussels that work with a computer network to ensure the city’s residents receive clean water. When the water is clean, the clams remain open but when the water in the plant gets too polluted or unclean, the clams close, triggering the sensors and shutting off the water supply to the city.
The Debiec Water Treatment Plant receives water from the Warta River, which is also the main water source for Poznan. One issue is that the river runs through some of the most densely populated and industrial areas. Hence, the contribution to the pollution of the Warta River is a concern, especially the seeping of heavy metals such as chromium.
Why clams and why use organism indicators?
Clams are extremely sensitive to polluted waters and they respond obviously to drops in water quality by clamping shut. Due to their low tolerance to polluted waters, they have specific life requirements, meaning they have a narrow ecological occurrence scale and certain factors will limit their vital functions or even be fatal to them. This then makes them reliable indicators of clean water that is well-oxygenated and have low physical and chemical impurities, even if they do not provide data on the water like computers do. Not only that, clams have been serving the Debiec Water Treatment Plant well since 1994, a testament to their reliability in ensuring clean water and protecting public health.
The Internet’s interest in these eight clams was sparked by a short documentary, Fat Kathy. Perhaps, another lesson we can learn is that technology and nature need not be separated when dealing with problems we face but instead a better model would be to partner technology with nature, just like what is being done in Poznan.
References
yet another meme page, 2020, Instagram update, 1 September, viewed 5 September 2020, https://www.instagram.com/p/CEifaLHHBdA/?igshid=sb69pl6gpsnd
Micu, A, 2020, ‘In Poznan, Poland, eight clams get to decide if people in the city get water or not’, ZME Science, 9 June, viewed 5 September 2020, https://www.zmescience.com/science/poznan-mussel-water-plants-892524/