Photo: University of Michigan News
See a new University of Michigan News video featuring the first Environmental Sample Processor (ESP) deployed in the Great Lakes. ‘ESPniagara’ is now deployed in the Western Lake Erie basin to provide rapid, advanced warning to municipal drinking water managers and to safeguard the drinking water supplies from toxic microcystins. ESPniagara is the first ESP to test for microcystins, a toxin produced by some cyanobacteria species. In 2014, undetected toxic levels of microcystins caused a two-day water crisis that left 400,000 Toledo residents without safe drinking water.
The Environmental Sample Processor (ESP) provides in situ collection and analysis of water samples from the subsurface ocean. The instrument is an electromechanical, fluidics system designed to collect discrete water samples, concentrate microorganisms or particles, and automate application of molecular probes in order to identify microorganisms and their gene products. Data generated are then available for remote retrieval and analysis in near real-time. See our website for more detailed information.
