Wetlands Work! Inc

Wetlands Work! Inc

About

In nature, wetland and floodplain plants biologically and physically clean water, supporting a variety of species including fish, birds, mammals, amphibians, insects and aquatic invertebrates and microbes. Wetlands can be created with ecological and environmental engineering knowledge to treat harmful flows of contaminated water, producing usable water in the process and supporting human welfare and ecological services. WW! designs ecologically engineered water treatment processes to transform domestic sewage and other waste streams into improved water. We use common wetland plant species to provide an active root surface area, attached to which are trillions of microbes that kick-start a food-chain, breaking down the waste into food usable by numerous other organisms in the system.

Wetlands Work! designs can be applied to communities in need of sustainable, low cost access to improved water. The water produced from constructed wetlands is usually non-potable, but keeps the local environment healthy, can be recycled for reuse, and sometimes can be treated further to meet WHO drinking water standards. Several of our flexible models have vast potential in off-the-grid rural areas and where poor, marginalized people live. At the household level, a simple WW! system can be set up in several days, using inexpensive, locally available materials. Our systems rely on gravity flow and have minimal maintenance needs. Similar principles are used to design systems for other types of wastewater treatment, such as industrial and medical effluents.

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