It's still living

I had another chance today to visit the living machine at PAWS in Muncie. (See earlier post.)

I could not believe how much growth there has been in the marsh and how many more hyacinths are growing on the surface of the tanks. Russ says he has to cull the hyacinths at least every two weeks in the summer and every six weeks or so during the winter. The papyrus plants in the marsh have more than tripled in mass since my first visit just three weeks ago today. See the pictures below.

The hyacinths make great mulch and decay quickly since they contain lots of air. Russ uses them around plants and trees on the PAWS campus. The sludge from the system is sprayed directly on the ground around plants.

We asked more questioins about what could be grown in the marsh, and I was more intent on checking each step in the process. I was surprised to see the water flowing from the sixth tank into the lagoon was so clear one would not know it wasn't a woodland stream.

Tropical plants are used because native plants go dormant in the winter. Russ thinks we could grow tropicals, trees, herbs, roses, pretty much whatever we want to if we construct a living machine for our waste processing.

I hope we can design a smaller version of the system to include in the community house, and add one or two more identical systems as we add residents.