May 6, 2010

Penn State: Biofilters Could Clean Dirty Water. Biofilters, using plants to clean dirty water from washing machines and other sources, can make that water fit for growing vegetables and flushing toilets, according to Penn State horticulturists.
"Our global fresh water supplies are fast depleting," said Robert D. Cameron, doctoral student in horticulture. "So it is critical that we begin to look at alternatives on how we can take wastewater and turn it into a resource."
"We have shown that with this system we can take wastewater from a washing machine and remove more than 90 percent of the pollutants within three days," said Cameron. "The treated water had very low levels of suspended solids and no detectable levels of e.coli." Click here for more information.