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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Reed bed filtered swimming pool

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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Reed bed filtered swimming pool
  • Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 00:56:40 -0800

Dominic1404@aol.com wrote:

I have not had any experience of reed bed systems but am shortly moving from the UK to Spain and am planning to set up a small sustainable smallholding with straw-bale housing and I was hoping to create a reed-bed filtered swimming pool. Has anyone any experience or idea where I might source information.
Many thanks
Dominic Dring

Submerged and floating (in limited quantities) aquatic weeds can make
pond water crystal clear. Turbulence bringing up silt and trash from the
bottom
should be minimized. Nutrient infiltration from runoff from adjoining
watersheds
can load the pond and may necessitate adding more plants and/or other
varieties of plants.

If runoff with high nutrient levels exists, regularly or intermittently, from
surrounding slopes
then you could pre-treat that water by building berms and swales to catch and
absorb it, releasing
much cleaner water into the pond. Appropriate plantings within and around
those swales could help a lot.
Semi aquatic plants, grasses, even watercress intermixed with elderberry,
willow and other shrubs and trees
could in various locations near or at the pond's edge, which could be
reconstructed into a crenelated configuration
to maximize diversity of habitat and encourage permanency for the ecosystems
that evolve there.

Chinampas (floating gardens), as was once used in the Floating Gardens of
Zochimilco (sp.?) near Mexico City,
could further extract nutrients in the water contributing to keeping it clean
and healthy. You might grow food crops there.
Azolla, or floating duckweed, hosts symbiotically, a nitrogen fixing bacteria
in the folds of its leaves. The best
plant for purrifying water I know of is water hyacinth but it will require an artificial environment for overwintering in cold climates. Maybe a windmill turning an air pump that would aerate the water would be useful too.

LL
--
L.F.London
lfl@intrex.net
http://market-farming.com
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/pcwiki/index.php/london






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