Water the Algae Up to Now?

From a scan of the news in science over the past year, it's evident that the days of referring to algae dismissively as pond scum are coming to an end.

Recent Tonic coverage has presented news of research into application of algae to the manufacture of biofuels. And in addition to its promise as a slimy, green, fuel-making machine, algae is now revealed to provide potentially excellent service in ensuring the safety and quality of the water delivered through your tap.

Research undertaken at the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee had previously determined the sensitivity of algae to certain toxins that may be present in untreated or inadequately treated water.

The additional findings have honed in on critical refinements to the process. Oak Ridge researchers have determined that keeping the algae in the dark for about a half hour prior to subjecting them to a potentially contaminated sample ratchets up their sensitivity, turning them into even more tenacious water-quality watchdogs.

ORNL scientist and co-author of the new study, Elias Greenbaum, discusses in a news release the readiness of the algae to report for duty in public water systems nationwide:

“We have shown that microalgae in source drinking water can be used as broad-spectrum, robust sentinel sensors to detect relatively low concentrations of toxins. We have also shown that the microalgae do not need to be in an optimized state for this technology to be effective.”

Image courtesy of Inks002, via Wikimedia Commons