Practical experiences with the biological early warning system "mosselmonitor"

Biological early warning systems (BEWS) for water pollution involve organisms as sentinels for the quality of the environment. The organisms are usually fast in their response (minutes) to a multitude of pollutants. BEWS devices are very useful for continuous monitoring of (industrial) effluents, water intake, and river or seawater quality control. The “Mosselmonitor” is a commercially available BEWS that uses the behavioral valve movement response of freshwater or marine mussels (e.g., Dreissena polymorpha or Mytilus edulis). As an indication of unfavorable conditions in the water, the closure of the shells, or a marked increase in the valve movement frequency, is automatically evaluated. During the last few years the authors have gained practical experience with the Mosselmonitor in a number of field experiments. Examples of monitoring practice will be presented that involve the following monitoring situations: –intake of drinking water from a river system; –continuous monitoring of the rivers Rhine and Meuse, partly in combination with other BEWS devices and physicochemical monitoring; –monitoring of industrial effluents in a tidal estuary; and –control of cooling water chlorination for antifouling purposes. In addition, –the system has been used for toxicological laboratory studies on selected compounds. © by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.