Partnership yields first results
Our partnership with De Anza college has lead to the discovery of highly toxic water in Stevens Creek.
Our first test included a site below the outfall at Stevens Creek Blvd. The current thinking is that the cause is a substance called pyrethroid which is found in insecticides employed for ant control. Site SCB511 is the toxic site.
Here is a graph of our results, using the method described under Projects, Water Quality Monitoring, Toxicity Testing. The test takes advantage of the sensitivity of a strain of bioluminesent plankton to toxicity they get dimmer as water quality deteriorates.
