#Industry News
FPI Water Quality Monitoring Technology Platform Won the 2022 Practical Technology Certification for Ecological and Environmental Protection!
News about FPI Water Quality Monitoring System
Recently, China Environmental Protection Industry Association (CEPIA) announced that the "Water bloom early warning technology based on in vivo fluorescent algae classification" and the "Shandong Shanghe Economic Development Zone Chemical Industry Park Toxic and Hazardous Gas Environmental Risk Early Warning System Construction Project" declared by FPI were awarded the 2022 practical technology and demonstration project awards for ecological and environmental protection in the environmental monitoring category.
The selection process took half a year. After the steps of recommendation, formal review, and expert evaluation, 50 practical ecological and environmental protection technologies and 70 ecological and environmental protection demonstration projects were selected for compilation.
Introduction of Water Bloom and Its Hazard
As more and more countries pay attention to environmental protection, "water ecology" as one of the environmental protection works is also more attention by the governments. Among the different water pollution phenomena, "water bloom" is the most important factor affecting the health of water ecology, and it is even called the water body killer.
Do you know what is water bloom? What are the dangers of water bloom?
Water bloom is a natural phenomenon in which algae suddenly overproduce due to excessive nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients in the water body. The algae in water blooms are mainly cyanobacteria and green algae in freshwater; and diatoms and methanogens in seawater.
The most significant harm brought by water blooms is through the production of odor substances and cyanobacterial toxins to affect the safety of drinking water sources and aquatic products, especially the secondary metabolites of cyanobacteria - the microcystin which can damage the liver and has a cancer-promoting effect, directly threatening human health. In addition, a water bloom outbreak will also interfere with and disrupt the ecological balance of the water body, resulting in the lack of oxygen in the water environment, poisoning or death of aquatic organisms, etc.
The phenomenon of water pollution caused by water blooms is not a "new problem" in recent years, as one study showed that the number of eutrophic water bodies in large lakes worldwide reached 63% in 2012. In July-August 2019, a massive cyanobacteria outbreak in Lake Erie in the US resulted in a dramatic deterioration of water quality and a massive die-off of aquatic organisms. Moreover, if humans accidentally eat these algae, they can cause liver damage, numbness, dizziness, and vomiting. For this reason, many water entertainment projects around Lake Erie were suspended then, and visitors were advised to stay away from the cyanobacteria-dense waters.
It is evident that the water bloom is already a global environmental problem. Both the early monitoring and treatment are complex. Many countries have been actively exploring the technology and strategy for effectively preventing and controlling water bloom. This time, the "Water bloom early warning technology based on live fluorescent algae classification" is the latest advanced technology to deal with the water bloom.
What is the live fluorescent algae classification?
Live fluorescent algae classification? Water bloom warning? How to classify? How to warn? Just hearing the name of this technology makes people confused. To find out, we invited researcher Dai from FPI water quality product R&D department to explain the unique features of this technology!
“The system consists of five layers: perception layer, basic support system, database system, integrated application system, and information display layer. In a short word, the system is composed of hardware, network transmission, and the software." Dai explained, "Firstly, the water quality testing equipment monitors the nutrient indicators (CODmn, TP, TN, NH3N) and five parameters (water temperature, PH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity) of the monitored area in real time. The in live fluorescent algae classification detection equipment makes the data of algae classification according to the depth. The collected data will be uploaded to the platform in real time through the information transmission system. The platform analyzes and predicts the water quality level, the risk and time of occurrence of water bloom based on the nitrogen and phosphorus ratio, the limit value of various nutrients, water temperature, dissolved oxygen and algae density data, and meteorological data. And when there is a risk of water bloom, the platform will generate water bloom risk events, give water bloom prevention and management advice, and take countermeasures in advance to reduce the impact of water bloom.”
