Hummer Forums by Elcova  
Forums - Home
Source Decals

Source Motors
Custom. Accessories.

H2 Accessories
H3 Accessories
Other Vehicles

H2 Source

H2 Member Photos
H2 Owners Map
H2 Classifieds
H2 Photo Gallery
SUT Photo Gallery
H2 Details

H2 Club

Chapters
Application

H3 Source

H3 Member Photos
H3 Classifieds
H3 Photo Gallery
H3 Owners Map
H3 Details
H3T Concept

H1 Source

H1 Member Photos
H1 Classifieds
H1 Photo Gallery
H1 Details

General Info

Hummer Dealers
Contact
Advertise

Sponsored Ads










 


Source Motors - custom. accessories.


Go Back   Hummer Forums by Elcova > ETC. Forums > General Off Topic

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old 09-19-2006, 07:04 PM
wilfred wilfred is offline
Hummer Professional
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Torrance, California
Posts: 330
wilfred is off the scale
Default $45,000 blue gills

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?se...rld&id=4575283

Fish Used To Detect Terror Attacks




SAN FRANCISCO, September 18, 2006 - A type of fish so common that practically every American kid who ever dropped a fishing line and a bobber into a pond has probably caught one is being enlisted in the fight against terrorism.
Also on abc7.com:
Daily Newsletter | Breaking News Alerts | Eyewitness News team BiosSan Francisco, New York, Washington and other big cities are using bluegills also known as sunfish or bream as a sort of canary in a coal mine to safeguard their drinking water.
Small numbers of the fish are kept in tanks constantly replenished with water from the municipal supply, and sensors in each tank work around the clock to register changes in the breathing, heartbeat and swimming patterns of the bluegills that occur in the presence of toxins. "Nature's given us pretty much the most powerful and reliable early warning center out there," said Bill Lawler, co-founder of Intelligent Automation Corporation, a Southern California company that makes and sells the bluegill monitoring system. "There's no known manmade sensor that can do the same job as the bluegill."


Since Sept. 11, the government has taken very seriously the threat of attacks on the U.S. water supply. Federal law requires nearly all community water systems to assess their vulnerability to terrorism.
Big cities employ a range of safeguards against chemical and biological agents, constantly monitoring, testing and treating the water. But electronic protection systems can trace only the toxins they are programmed to detect, Lawler said.
Bluegills a hardy species about the size of a human hand are considered more versatile. They are highly attuned to chemical disturbances in their environment, and when exposed to toxins, they experience the fish version of coughing, flexing their gills to expel unwanted particles.
The computerized system in use in San Francisco and elsewhere is designed to detect even slight changes in the bluegills' vital signs and send an e-mail alert when something is wrong.
San Francisco's bluegills went to work about a month ago, guarding the drinking water of more than 1 million people from substances such as cyanide, diesel fuel, mercury and pesticides. Eight bluegills swim in a tank deep in the basement of a water treatment plant south of the city.
"It gave us the best of both worlds, which is basically all the benefits that come from nature and the best of high-tech," said Susan Leal, general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
New York City has been testing its system since 2002 and is seeking to expand it. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection reported at least one instance in which the system caught a toxin before it made it into the water supply: The fish noticed a diesel spill two hours earlier than any of the agency's other detection devices.
They do have limitations. While the bluegills have successfully detected at least 30 toxic chemicals, they cannot reliably detect germs. And they are no use against other sorts of attacks - say, the bombing of a water main, or an attack by computer hackers on the systems that control the flow of water.
Still, Lawler said more than a dozen other cities have ordered the anti-terror apparatus, called the Intelligent Aquatic BioMonitoring System, which was originally developed for the Army and starts at around $45,000. San Francisco plans to install two more bluegill tanks.
"It provides us an added level of detection of the unknown," said Tony Winnicker, a spokesman for the city's Public Utilities Commission. "There's no computer that's as sophisticated as a living being."
Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 09-19-2006, 08:37 PM
KenP's Avatar
KenP KenP is offline
Hummer Messiah
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Virginia Beach
Posts: 37,474
KenP is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: $45,000 blue gills

That's pretty cool, Wilfred. And cheap!
__________________
"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."---Thomas Jefferson
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 09-19-2006, 08:44 PM
wilfred wilfred is offline
Hummer Professional
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Torrance, California
Posts: 330
wilfred is off the scale
Default Re: $45,000 blue gills

Quote:
Originally Posted by KenP
That's pretty cool, Wilfred. And cheap!

Cheap?!?! How many bluegills would you like, I'm going to be a professional bluegill fisherman
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 09-21-2006, 09:45 AM
31_bandits's Avatar
31_bandits 31_bandits is offline
Hummer Professional
 
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 436
31_bandits is on a distinguished road
Default Re: $45,000 blue gills

man, that's cool.

I'll take a moment to pay homage before frying those little suckers from now on.
__________________
She makes me wanna feel
She makes me wanna try
She makes me wanna pull a star from the sky
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 12:42 PM.


Powered by vBulletin Version 3.0.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.