This is an award to support Phase II of a research project, Phase I of which was conducted under NSF Grant No. 91-61351. The research is on determining the feasibility of using fish ventilatory response profiles in an automated monitoring system that can continuously detect toxicity of effluents from wastewater collection and treatment systems. This concept involves a process by which ventilatory and locomotive behavior responses of fish are analyzed to determine the presence of toxic substances in the wastewater to which the fish are exposed and to aid in identification of the responsible substances. The proposal leading to this award was submitted in accord with criteria in NSF 91- 20, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR). Results of Phase I supported the technical feasibility of using fish response as the basis for an automated, real-time water quality monitoring system to detect the presence of toxics in water. The objective of Phase II is to determine the commercial feasibility of this concept which could be used to continuously monitor wastewater for toxics, to screen water for presence of toxics and to locate their sources. A system based on this concept could be used to manage operation of biological processes used in treatment of wastewater.
