If pollution could be made visible, we could see where it is entering our waterways and how it is accumulating in our ecosystems. The result would be information needed to enforce the Clean Water Act. To address this challenge ORCA has developed technology designed to identify non-point source pollution sources and sinks and provide this information as a graphical overlay on GoogleTM based maps. The first step is to locate the sinks – places where pollution accumulates. There are so many potential pollutants that a comprehensive analysis of a single sediment sample can take months and cost thousands of dollars. ORCA has solved this challenge with its Fast Assessment of Sediment Toxicity or FAST program, which uses a broad-spectrum bioassay that is the equivalent of a canary in a coalmine. When the toxicity levels are mapped, high toxicity values cluster together at sinks. With funding from the Herbert W. Hoover Foundation, ORCA is using their FAST program to map pollution in Biscayne Bay.

Website:www.teamorca.org