有人解释说波兰用蛤蜊来控制供水，这太疯狂了

有人解释说波兰用蛤蜊来控制供水，这太疯狂了

While it seems that various technologies are completely taking over many different parts of human life, it appears that even some man-made things are better left to nature… Therefore, some places in the world have decided to trust clams and mussels to monitor the cleanness of their water. Despite most of us being used to seeing clams on a fancy dinner plate, some of them get a more important mission—monitoring the purity of drinking water.

尽管各种各样的技术似乎完全占据了人类生活的许多不同部分，但似乎有些人造的东西还是留给大自然比较好……因此，世界上有些地方决定相信蛤蜊和贻贝来监测它们的水的清洁程度。尽管我们大多数人都习惯了在精美的餐盘上看到蛤蜊，但其中一些人有一个更重要的任务——监测饮用水的纯度。

Turns out, some places use clams and mussels to test how clear the water is

事实证明，有些地方用蛤蜊和贻贝来测试水的清澈程度

While most people probably think of clams and mussels as a part of some fancy dinner, it appears they have a much higher significance in some places. For example, the water quality in Warsaw, the capital city of Poland, is monitored by clams. A Polish Tumblr user who goes by nickname Ftgurdy explained that the city of Warsaw gets its water from a river and “the main water pump has 8 clams that have triggers attached to their shells. If the water gets too toxic, they close, and the triggers shut off the city’s water supply automatically.” There’s a whole documentary on that, called Fat Kathy, and you can check out its trailer here. It follows how the main scientist-malacologist watches over the system’s operation. The film is described as “a philosophical essay on the dependence of people from nature and the world around them.”

尽管大多数人可能认为蛤蜊和贻贝是一些高档晚餐的一部分，但在某些地方，它们的重要性似乎要高得多。例如，波兰首都华沙的水质是由蛤蚌监测的。一位昵称为Ftgurdy的波兰Tumblr用户解释说，华沙的水来自一条河，“主水泵有8只蛤，它们的壳上都有触发器。”如果水毒性太强，它们就会关闭，而触发器就会自动切断城市的供水。“有一部关于这个的纪录片，叫《胖凯西》，你可以在这里查看它的预告片。它遵循的是主要的科学家和心理学家如何监视系统的运行。这部电影被描述为“一篇关于人类对自然和周围世界依赖的哲学论文。”

The main water pump in Warsaw, Poland has 8 clams that are responsible for measuring how toxic the water is

波兰华沙的主要水泵有8只蛤蜊，它们负责检测水的毒性

Municipal Water and Sewage Enterprise in the Capital City of Warsaw confirms the use of fish and mussels for biomonitoring. They explain that they use biomonitoring at Warsaw Waterworks to increase the safety of the water treatment process. The mussels of the sharpened scallop species used are very sensitive to water pollution.

首都华沙的市政供水和污水处理企业证实使用鱼和贻贝进行生物监测。他们解释说，他们在华沙自来水厂使用生物监测来提高水处理过程的安全性。磨尖扇贝的贻贝对水污染非常敏感。

Clams are known to be very sensitive and only open their shells slightly in order to feed

众所周知，蛤蜊非常敏感，为了觅食，它们只会轻轻地打开壳

Apparently, the mollusks first undergo an acclimatization process after being caught and brought to the laboratory. It takes about two weeks. During that time, scientists also determine the natural opening of their shell—clams leave a slight opening and feed by filtrating water. Within one hour, one clam can filter and thus analyze the quality of 1.5 liters of water. They live only in completely clean waters and shut their shells immediately if they sense any impurity.

显然，这些软体动物在被捕获并带到实验室后，首先要经历一个适应环境的过程。大约需要两周的时间。在此期间，科学家们还确定了它们的贝壳的自然开口，留下一个小的开口，通过过滤水来进食。在一小时内，一只蛤蜊可以过滤并分析1.5升水的质量。它们只生活在完全干净的水里，如果发现任何不干净的东西，它们就会立即闭上壳。

Each clam at Warsaw Waterworks is carefully selected by scientists and undergoes an acclimatization process

华沙水厂的每只蛤蜊都经过科学家的精心挑选，并经过驯化过程

After completing their acclimatization process, clams are placed in a specially designed flow tank. They are connected to the system controller that sends data to a computer which records the degree that the clams’ shells are open all the time. If the water quality deteriorates, the clams close their shells to isolate themselves from the contaminated environment. That automatically triggers an alarm and shuts down water supply while scientists perform laboratory tests.

在完成适应环境的过程后，把蛤蜊放入一个特别设计的水槽中。它们与系统控制器相连，系统控制器将数据发送到计算机，计算机记录蛤壳一直处于打开状态的程度。如果水质恶化，蛤蜊就会关闭外壳，将自己与受污染的环境隔离开来。当科学家进行实验室测试时，它会自动触发警报并关闭供水。

Scientists also determine the natural opening of their shells and then attach equipment that is connected to the system controller

科学家们还确定了它们外壳的自然开口，然后将设备连接到系统控制器上

In order for the clams not to get used to the water that’s being tested, they only serve for three months. After their service is done, they are transported back to the same water they were taken from and are marked by the scientists so they don’t pick up the same clams again.

为了不让这些蛤蜊适应接受测试的海水，它们只吃三个月。服务结束后，它们会被送回原来取水的地方，科学家会对它们进行标记，这样它们就不会再捡回原来的蛤蜊了。

If they detect polluted water, clams immediately shut their shells, which triggers the alarm

如果它们发现了被污染的水，蛤蜊就会立即合上壳，这就会触发警报

Each clam in Warsaw Waterworks serves for three months, is later returned to the exact lake where it came from, and is marked so that scientists won’t pick up the same clams again

华沙水厂的每只蛤蜊都要服务三个月，之后会被送回原来的湖，并被标记，这样科学家们就不会再捡到同样的蛤蜊了

Image credits: Fat Kathy