Traditional chemical analysis, alone, is not enough to get a complete view of water quality. Biomonitoring of behavioral responses and stress levels, experienced by living organisms, is important as it can be used for assessing toxicity as a first line of defence in managing the use of source waters.
The most important drivers for on-line biomonitoring systems are:
- Traditional analyses are only possible for a small number of the dangerous chemical substances, even with the latest highly sophisticated instruments.
- It is estimated that only about 5% of the existing toxic chemicals in water can be analysed by on-line monitors.
- Concentrations of many products are lower then the detection limits.
- Results of traditional, chemical analyses give no information regarding the toxicity of the combined effects of mixtures
The iTOXcontrol uses a decrease in luminescence of the Vibrio Fischeri bacteria as an endpoint effect to measure the toxicity of water samples. The acute test with this bacteria species is one of the best known ecotoxicity tests and has been used in ecotoxicological research since the 1980’s. It is internationally standardized and accredited (ISO 11348 Determination of the inhibition effect of water samples on the light emission of Vibrio fischeri).
The iTOXcontrol can be Integrated with different optional sensors like a UV-VIS sensor or Algae sensor (for Chlorophyll-a and blue-green algae) which creates a combined system for Early Warning and Water Quality Monitoring .