(3)Cleansing
pollutants from daily life.
We need to clean the pollutants produced by our daily life. As with any
other problem, the best way is to solve it at its source. Human bodily
waste and garbage from the kitchen are converted into biogas for
cooking. The carbon dioxide from burning biogas flows via a duct from
the kitchen to the green house where it gets converted to oxygen by
photosynthesis, as can be seen in the next figure. It is well known
that the more carbon dioxide a plant gets, the more it will grow. The
waste water from the house flows to the greenhouse into an aerogation
pool and then successively through other ponds. In the first one
bulrushes grow, in the second water hyacinth as an additional source
for biogas was planned, however, this idea had to be abandoned as the
plant is considered noxious in New Zealand. For the third pond we are
considering growing watercress. However, as we have up to now not lived
in the house for more than four months a year, not enough waste water
has been generated to reach the third pond. Water reeds among bulrushes
and other weeds in the first pond are growing, showing that they are
able to thrive on the gray water.
Greenhouse and cleansing ponds
The first measurement of BOD value, on 1996 May 31, was 135ppm at the
entrance and 85ppm at the exit in the first pond. The second was 170ppm
at the entrance and 21ppm at the exit. It is evident that the change to
biodegradable detergent for washing dishes and laundry has had a great
effect.
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