Plants for Cleaning Water
Ecologist John Todd believes that waste is a resource out of place. He has demon-strated the usefulness of waste on his farm where he uses lettuce and tomato plants to clean water for his fish farm.
Overabundance of nutrient-rich waste water can be damaging to aquatic life. When sewage is released untreated into water systems, it disrupts an ecological imbalance and creates algae blooms resulting in a decrease in dissolved oxygen. This change in the oxygen supply results in the death of the fish and other creatures that need oxygen to survive in water.
Todd has developed a system he calls the "living machine" to clean waste water for cities and other large facilities. Here's how it works: a special series of filtering ecosystems contained in a passive solar green house or outdoor area. After spending 10 days in the ecosystems, the water flows clear into an outdoor marsh or wetland and then back into the local water cycle. After passing the water through an ozone generator or an ultra-violet light system, the water is drinkable. These living systems cleanse the water without chlorine and other harmful chemi-cals, and they provide a growing system for ornamental plants, trees and other beneficial living things.