a lot of people have got in touch to tell me that in Warsaw, in Poland,

ポーランドのワルシャワでは、多くの人がそのことを私に伝えてくれました。

the tap water quality is tested and controlled by clams.

水道水の水質検査は、アサリによって行われています。

They said that the city constantly runs a sample of its tap water past some mollusks.

とのこと。水道水のサンプルを軟体動物に当ててみる。

And those are filter feeders, so if there's a contaminant in the water, they will instinctively close.

そしてそれらはフィルターフィーダーなので、もし水に汚染物質があったとしても本能的に閉じてしまうのです。

Sensors attached to them will detect that and raise the alarm.

そこに取り付けられたセンサーがそれを感知し、アラームを発する。

And I didn't believe it.

そして、私はそれを信じませんでした。

It seemed too weird to me.

私にはあまりに奇妙に思えたのです。

And all the articles that I could find about it seemed dodgy, somehow.

そして、それに関する記事はすべて、どこか怪しげな印象を受けました。

They just set off red flags in the research parts of my brain.

ただ、私の脳の研究部分に赤信号が点滅したのです。

There is a very arty Polish documentary about the system,

このシステムについては、非常にアーティスティックなポーランドのドキュメンタリーがあり、多くのサイトがあります。

and a lot of sites repost that film's claims without even mentioning the source,

は、その映画の主張を出典にも触れずに再掲載しています。

just as a "look at this funny thing off in Poland!"

ただ、「ポーランドでこんな面白いものがあるんだ！」という程度で。

It felt like it could be a misinterpreted or mistranslated joke,

誤読や誤訳のジョークになりかねない感じでした。

or even a deliberate hoax by a filmmaker that got out of control,

あるいは、映画監督による意図的なデマで、コントロールが効かなくなったのかもしれません。

and that the English speaking world was just believing it because it was quirky and harmless enough.

と、英語圏の方がは、流石に無害だからと信じていたのですが。

There have been plenty of fake things like that spread about in the past, accidentally or otherwise.

そういう捏造は過去にいくらでも流布されてきた。偶発的に、またはその他の理由で。

Or maybe the clam-sensors did exist, but it was a brief experiment that never went anywhere.

あるいは、アサリセンサーは存在したが、それは簡単な実験だったのかもしれない。というのは、どこにも行かなかった。

Well, I'm now here in Warsaw, on a famous building in the middle of the river,

さて、私は今、ここワルシャワの有名な建物の上にいます。

with a Polish speaking team showing me around.

を、ポーランド語を話すスタッフが案内してくれました。

There is a lot of stuff we are not allowed to film here for security reasons.

セキュリティ上の理由で、ここでは撮影できないものがたくさんあるんです。

Inside here is critical infrastructure.

この中に重要なインフラがあります。

Plus, it is far too noisy down there for me to talk,

それに、下はうるさくてしゃべれませんが

but I'm happy to report that yes, the clams are real.

そうです、アサリは本物なんです。

They actually do protect Warsaw,

実際にワルシャワを守っているのです。

but the story's a little more complicated than that.

しかし、話はもう少し複雑です。

Warsaw's water source is surface water, the water of the Vistula River.

IN POLISH:

If it turns out that there's ever a toxic substance in the water,

we must not allow that contaminated water to reach our residents.

So therefore, we would start a special procedure,

and our laboratories would carry out a number of tests,

to find out what is the cause of the water contamination.

And we would have about two days to do that.

The alarm has never sounded yet, but for water safety,

an early warning system is very important.

The important thing is: those clams aren't the only protection.

重要なのは、そのアサリだけが保護ではないことです。

They're not even the main part.

主役でもない。

This is still a modern water treatment system,

これでも現代の水処理装置なんですよ。

with 21st century sensors and detectors to keep everyone safe.

21世紀のセンサーと探知機で、みんなの安全を守ります。

This is part of a defense in depth, one part of an early warning system,

これは深層防護の一環であり、早期警戒システムの1つです。

one more alarm that can go off,

もう一つ、アラームを鳴らすことができる。

like an airport that uses explosive sniffing dogs but also electronic detectors.

空港で爆発物探知犬を使うような...。

These clams are caught from a very clean lake.

が、電子式検出器もある。

Then they got to our laboratory where they spend about two weeks acclimatizing.

At the same time, although it sound strange, they're also calibrated.

What angle of opening is 100% and what is zero?

It's very important that we're able to interpret the result later.

Eight individuals go to this aquarium.

And these clams are attached to pedestals to which there's also attached a probe,

receiving signals from the sensor that's mounted on the shell of each clam.

These sensors are fixed with a special glue, which is absolutely safe for animals.

Three months later, the clams are returned to their natural habitat.

We know that this is not a stressful situation for them.

We take care of our colleagues here!

How do we know if there's a problem, if something's happening to the water?

If, at the same time, six out of eight individuals close their shells for more than four minutes,

and at the same time, average closing percentage of all the shells falls below 25%.

We can see that most of these clams are very active now.

The average opening percentage, across all the clams, is 72%.

So, the water is safe.

The technical term for this is "biomonitoring,"

専門用語では「バイオモニタリング」と言います。

and it turns out from more research that this isn't the only place that does it.

そして、さらに調べたところ、このようなことをしているのはここだけではないことが判明しました。

There are other water companies in Poland that have similar setups,

ポーランドには、同じような仕組みの水道会社が他にもあります。

plus one in Minnesota, USA, and probably more that I haven't found.

さらに、アメリカのミネソタ州にも1つ、そしておそらくまだ見つけていないものがあるはずです。

At which point I think I can say that: yes, the red flag in my head was wrong.

その時点で、「そうだ、頭の中の赤旗は間違っていた」と言えると思う。

The clams in this building really do help protect Warsaw.

この建物のアサリは、本当にワルシャワを守ってくれているんですね。