Biometox Solution | Quantification of heavy metals in water

Using an approach combining a battery of bioprobes with differential sensitivities and neural network processing, the levels of five metals (copper, lead, zinc, arsenic and mercury) are semi-quantified simultaneously according to concentration ranges.

Tame-Water's bioassays focus on the bioavailable forms of metals and their potential interaction(s) in solution.

For metals, it is difficult to correlate concentration thresholds with significant thresholds of potential impacts for several reasons:

• Metallic elements exist naturally in the environment, so it is essential to distinguish between naturally occurring and man-made contributions;
• Living organisms need specific metals and some are even adapted to live in particularly rich environments;
• metals are present in water as free ions, but they can be transformed with organic and inorganic elements;
• only certain forms of the metal can be assimilated and have an effect on organisms: these are the bioavailable forms.

All of these particularities mean that the analysis of metals by Tame-Water and the assessment of the risks associated with their presence is a complementary approach to that carried out by conventional physico-chemical analyses in the regulatory framework. Tame-Water is thus able to assess the actual toxicity caused by metals.

To complete these innovative biological approaches, Tame-Water measures the Metox index according to the TEF Metox 1975 JO 92 method. This index, defined by the Water Agencies, makes it possible to establish a toxicity threshold linked to the presence of metals in a given aquatic environment.

It is calculated by adding the quantities of each particular toxic metal affected by a multiplier coefficient reflecting the toxicity of the metal.