Water/Wastewater


For example, the Dutch Mosselmonitor® is a biosensor that uses bivalves (Anodonta sp. in freshwater or Mytilus galloprovincialis in brackish water) for a qualitative detection of water quality; the frequency of movements of the animal is recorded and elaborated upon (Allan et al, 2006; USEPA, 2005). This instrument has been designed in Europe and other similar instruments have been designed elsewhere (ILSI, 1999).


A range of real-time toxicity monitoring instruments using living organisms, for example; daphnia, algae and fish, are commercially available from the German BBE Moldaenke®, DaphTox II®, Algae Toximeter® and Fish Toximeter®, using the respective organisms.


Water monitoring system using biological early warning systems


This water monitoring system using a biosensor, a probe for measurement of physio-chemical parameters, an electronic controller and a water-sampler. Exposure of fish or other organisms is also useful for testing an organisms’ health status. This set-up has been designed in order to provide a full capability in water monitoring. During my 10year experience, I used Mosselmonitor®, as biosensor (valve opening measurement every 10”), Hydrolab® DataSonde®, as probe (one recording per hour: temperature, dissolved oxygen in % and mg/L, and pH), Logosens® as datalogger (data/alarm evaluation every 5') and ISCO® 6700 as water-sampler. When an alarm occurs, the datalogger enable the water sampler to send an SMS to an operator for sampling analysis. Data and alarm are available on a remote PC, using the GSM module installed with Logosens.


Although highly effective, this is only one of the many possible set- ups and for every application a suitable combination of one or more biosensors as well as instruments and facilities should be carefully evaluated.


The functioning of biosensors should be recorded in every new location and disturbances, as well as anthropic “noise”, should be acquired during the “monitoring station's calibration”, in order to not include these in the evaluation of alarm.


The data acquisition, storage and processing have to be performed by an automatic device using software for data and alarms management. The procedure for “early warning evaluation” is designed on the basis the type of water body (river, lagoon, lake,


DaphTox II® (left) and Fish Toximeter® (right).


and sea), type of water (freshwater, brackish water, seawater) and target of monitoring (food production, drinking water surveillance). The early warning evaluation is shown in the following figure.


Biosensors and automatic water quality instruments for example; probes for T, DO, produce a sample of the same water that produced the alarm. The water sample will be analysed in a laboratory.


Biological assays


The water sample provided by early warning system is highly probable to include pollutants. As for the target of monitoring, several assays can be performed: biomarkers, ecotoxicology and bioaccumulation. There are a wide range of categories of assays and here a brief introduction is provided.


Biomarkers are short term effects on biological system, able to quickly provide information on the presence of pollution into the water. The biomarkers can be investigated on the same species hosted in the biosensor, as well as on other organisms. Ecotoxicology includes methodologies for evaluation of toxicity of the sample of water in 12, 24, 48 or 96 hours (acute test) or several days (chronic test). The assay can be designed for use on several organisms.


Bioaccumulation means of chemical analysis of tissue and organs of fish, bivalve or other animals, in order to measure the accumulation of pollution going through the food chain. Often these tests use muscle and liver, because these are easy to sample (muscle) and are widely related to exposure to pollutants (liver).


These three methodologies provide a full range of tools for evaluation of short-term and long-term effects on organisms, as well as providing huge information on environmental quality.


The set-up for the monitoring of the Po river in Italy.


The choice of residential organism (bivalve) or an easy technical solution (caged fish) aims to improve the level of investigations and to improve the link between results of biological assays and ecological status of environment.


Applications


The proposed approach was widely tested in the basin (70,000 km2


) of Po river, the


longest (650km) Italian river that has 141 tributaries and flows into Adriatic sea, south, to Venice. Applications were developed for drinking water surveillance, aquaculture and biodiversity conservation, both in river waters and coastal brackish lagoons.


A more reliable evolution of this system, is its use in a mobile laboratory; all devices are installed in a 6m long container and the water inlet/outlet are managed depending


on application. This solution can be located in every monitoring site and also far from power lines! In addition this can be managed remotely (Brunelli, 2011).


BOX 1: How to design your monitoring system water:


target of monitoring:


□freshwater □brackish


□drinking water


human activities: □low


links with public authorities:


links with universities or EPA:


consulting: training: □yes □yes □seawater


□aquaculture □biodiversity conservation


□medium □no □no


□yes (design) □yes (monitoring strategy)


□required □not required □no □high


21


BOX 2: Financing your new monitoring system


This kind of monitoring system is an innovation for many European areas. The use of this system can be funded in the framework of EU projects on environmental and/or innovative solutions, also in association with public bodies or universities. Where applicable, this approach can be used for an improvement of sustainability of food productions (aquaculture) and in public-private partnerships (water cycle management).


Literature


Allan I.J., Mills G.A., Vrana B., Knutsson J., Holmberg A., Guigues N., Laschi S., Fouillac A., Greenwood R. (2006). Strategic monitoring for the European Water Framework Directive. Trends in Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 25, No. 7, pp 704-715.


Brunelli F. (2011). Use of biosensors and bioassays for water monitoring in the lower Po river basin. Proceedings of the international conference “Handshake across the Jordan – Water and Understanding in the Middle East. In: Forum Umwelttechnik und Wasserbau, Nr. 9. IUP - Innsbruck University Press, Innsbruck, 288 pp.


ILSI (1999). Early warning monitoring to detect hazardous events in water supplies.


ILSI (2002). Assessing health risks from environmental exposure to chemicals: the example of drinking water.


U.S.EPA (2001). Real-Time Monitoring for Toxicity Caused By Harmful Algal Blooms and Other Water Quality Perturbations. EPA/600/R-01/103.


U.S.EPA (2005). Technologies and Techniques for Early Warning Systems to Monitor and Evaluate Drinking Water Quality: A State- of-the-Art Review.


www.envirotech-online.com IET March / April 2012


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72