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PIC: It’s a bug’s life.

In this image, Wastewater Analyst Lindsay Koplow is culturing water fleas. But this culture has nothing to do with the Cleveland Museum of Art.

The fleas are cultured—cultivated and nourished—and maintained every day of the year. Seems like a lot of work for a bug, no? Well the water fleas are part of a test we conduct to ensure we are treating the wastewater to its highest standards. It’s known as whole effluent toxicity, or WET testing. If the fleas weren’t healthy, it would affect the validity of our test results.

Healthy fleas are happy fleas, and that means more reliable results.