Bluegills are very hardy and are plentiful in the US

 

One of the most common types of fish in America has been enlisted in the fight against terrorism. San Francisco, Washington and New York are using bluegills - also known as sunfish - to safeguard their public drinking water.

A small number of fish are kept in tanks which are constantly filled with water from the municipal supply.

The computerised system registers changes in the fishes' vital signs and sends an alert when something is wrong.

Since 11 September 2001, the US government has taken the threat of attacks on water supplies seriously.

Early warning system

Under federal law, nearly all community water systems must be assessed for their vulnerability to terrorism - and water supplies are constantly monitored and tested for chemical and biological agents.

"It's like an early warning system - it acts as another line of defence," said Bill Lawler, co-founder of Intelligent Automation Corporation, the San Diego-based company that makes the anti-terror apparatus.

Bluegills - a hardy species - are highly sensitive to a wide number of toxins. When they are exposed to such substances they experience the fish version of coughing, flexing their gills to expel unwanted particles.

At the first sign of stress in the fish, the computer system will send an alert by email, pager or mobile device, also known as "fish phones".

New York City's bluegills were put to work recently when the system caught traces of a diesel spill before any of the Department of Environmental Protection's other devices.

The bluegills do have limitations however. They cannot reliably detect germs and are no use against other sorts of attacks - the bombing of a water main, or computer hackers attacking the systems that control the flow of water.

^ wouldnt it make more sense to use some flashbang computer tech system to make sure the water is safe? it seems quite ridiculous.

Couldnt this kind of be considered cruelty to animals?

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.

Isnt this like how Canary's worked in Coalmines?