Is Your Water Polluted? These Critters Will Tell You.
Dr. John Jackson, an entomologist, or scientist who studies bugs, of Stroud Water Research Center, said critters like mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies can't live in areas with serious pollution problems. They offer a world of knowledge that a single water sample can't because they live there and are, in essence, constantly taking samples.
For instance, if a formerly healthy critter population drops in a stream or river, it likely means something environmentally detrimental happened upstream, Jackson said. Scientists and environmentalists contribute some of the local water problems to a wide range of things, like overusing fertilizers, suburban housing developments replacing natural forested areas, urban infrastructure, parking lots, toxic driveway sealants, pesticides, acid mine drainage, along with emerging contamination problems, like pharmaceuticals.
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