This kind of reminds me of the canary in the mineshaft idea. I suppose some people will cry foul that it's cruelty to animals, but I suppose I'd rather see one or two animals that are not native and readily breed killed rather than entire populations of animals that might not come back.
City turns to goldfish to test water quality
EDMONTON - A school of goldfish in Edmonton has the important job of testing the cleanliness of the city's water.
Currently, wastewater is held at the plant. No one knows if it is safe to release into the city's waterways or if it needs further treatment first.
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To find out, researchers are turning to goldfish. If the fish go belly up, then there's a problem.
"It might not actually kill them," said Greg Goss, a biology professor at the University of Alberta. "It likely won't."
Goss and his team want to see if wastewater is safe to dump into the North Saskatchewan River.
The goldfish will live in tanks for the next six months, where they'll undergo regular physical checkups to see if the contaminants, pharmaceuticals, herbicides and heavy metals in the water have any effect on life.
If there is a problem, the wastewater treatment plant will know where to begin to improve water quality.
"If we do start seeing effects on the fish. I think with the experimental setup we will be able to work back and see what kinds of contaminants there are and develop treatment systems for those specific contaminants," said Daryl Seehagel, Goldbar Waste Treatment.
The project aims to identify any harmful effects on health and the environment. The first set of results are expected in October.
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