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Clams to the Rescue

While technology shapes much of the modern world, nature continues to prove its value. In Poland, clams—often seen as a delicacy on dinner tables—have now found a more meaningful purpose: helping to keep the country’s waters clean as biomonitors. Biomonitors are organisms or biological materials that indicate the health of an ecosystem or reveal human exposure to chemicals. Clams are very good biomonitors as they can remove phytoplanktons and microorganisms from the water making them good filter feeders, they also help in nitrogen removal by incorporating the nitrogen into their tissue which helps them grow.


In Warsaw, Poland's capital, clams play a crucial role in monitoring water quality. At the city's main water pump, eight clams are equipped with sensors attached to their shells. If the water becomes toxic, the clams instantly close their shells, activating the sensors and automatically shutting off the city’s water supply.


The process begins after the molluscs are caught and then they go through an “acclimatization process”  which takes about two weeks, before being installed in the water pump area. They are brought to the laboratory where things such as the natural opening of their shell is studied– clams have a slight opening and they feed by filtrating water. During the acclimatization process, the clams are also gradually introduced to their new environment so they can adjust to any changes in water conditions, flow rates and temperature. This helps them adapt smoothly to the water pump system. In one hour a clam is capable of filtering and analyzing the quality of 1.5 liters of water.


Once the acclimatization process is complete the clams are placed in a specialized flow tank. They are connected to a system that tracks how open their shells are at all times. If the water quality worsens, the clams close their shells to protect themselves which in turn triggers an alarm that shuts down the water supply until scientists can run lab tests. To prevent the clams from getting used to the water they are being tested in, they’re only left there for three months. After that, they are marked so that the scientists don’t pick up the same ones again and are transported back to the same water they were taken from.


The Polish Waterworks company states that this particular biomonitoring method is the most effective technology for water testing. Clams monitor water quality for over 8 million people in Poland. This method is also being used in Minneapolis Water Treatment and Distribution Services which is currently the only US city to use this method.


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