Wastewater generated from washing boats, heavy equipment, aircraft and many other industrial sources typically has very high levels of toxic metals. This wastewater has a very detrimental effect on marine ecosystems.
Toxic wastewater from industry kills oysters. The Good – An oyster filters toxic metals out of the water and turns the metals into harmless insoluble pellets. The Bad – the oyster cannot metabolize metals and therefore they bio-accumulate the metals. This reduces its ability to reproduce and slowly kills the oyster.
This is environmentally tragic. Oysters have been removing metals from water for eons. An adult oyster is capable of filtering 50-gallons of water per day. Scientists estimate that when Europeans first set foot in North America oysters were so abundant that all of the water in Chesapeake Bay was filtered through oysters every 5 days!
Isn’t it crazy that our poor stewardship is allowing the destruction of an organism that cleans our water 24/7? And works for free and tastes good.
Thankfully many folks are working to protect oysters and oyster yields are on the rise.
Clean Marine Solution’s is proud to be a part of the solution. Our VANISH systems typically remove toxic metals to below the EPA’s threshold for drinking water!
I think you will be amazed at this time-lapse video demonstrating oyster filtration.
