Anti-terror fish guard San Francisco's water

Deutsche Presse Agentur | September 6 2006

San Francisco- San Francisco authorities have drafted 12 bluegill fish to help protect the city's water supply from terror threats, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday. The fish live in a tank at a water treatment plant where a computer monitoring system detects if they are upset by any foreign substances in the water.

The 110,000 dollar system is able to track how the fish flex their gills to clear unwelcome particles from their breathing passages. It compares the fish behaviour with their standard reactions.

If the computer senses any abnormal movements "the system immediately triggers water samples to be taken, and the staff are alerted by pager and e-mail," said Tony Winnicker, Public Utilities Commission spokesman.

Most water treatment facilities systems already use chemical treatments to protect water quality against biological agents such as bacteria, but the fish system is best able to detect non-biological threats such as pesticides, mercury, cyanide, heavy metals, fuel spills and phosphates, the report said.

"The Army tested this system against 27 toxicants, and it spotted them all," said Bill Lawler, co-founder of Intelligent Automation, the company that invented the system.

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