Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] water purifying filters

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com>
  • To: Douglas Willhite <drwillhite@earthlink.net>, Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] water purifying filters
  • Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 09:01:35 -0800 (PST)

Douglas,
 
I'm also looking for means of water purification. I had hoped
your thread would turn up something useful.
 
We have 4 sources on our land. 2 of them with fairly clear
water supply sufficient water for most of the year. However, in
the summer, when water becomes scarce, I would also like to
use the 2 other sources which are more like mud holes. Other
then the mud (clay particles) there is a high ion content and
some slate oil.
 
This summer, I started experimenting with a small-scale open
gravel- and sand-bed filter. Some of the slate oil came through,
but the water was much clearer and didn't have that much ion
anymore. The problem with an open system is that you can't
use back-flashing to clean your filter when it gets saturated.
I only used it for 3 months in the summer so that didn't matter.
And next year I'm planning on something a little more
sophisticated.
 
The problem basically is: what do you do instead of back-
flashing? I have thought about adding another layer of soil on
top of the sand for growing plants that will take the impurities
out of the water. But I don't know how effective that will be.
Also, I'm not sure which plants to chose (this is not grey water
I'm talking about). The mud (i.e., the clay) doesn't matter, that
would be OK for growing plants, but I would like to do something
about other impurities. Also, I don't know what soil to use for
the filter. Obviously, I wouldn't use manure or fertilizer, but I
wonder if compost would be OK? Or should I just use clay
soil? Or perhaps some black soil from our forest?
 
I'm also thinking of adding a cascade in which the water would
flow from one bowl into another. This would help oxidize the ion
so that it can be filtered out mechanically.
 
Dieter Brand
Portugal

Douglas Willhite <drwillhite@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Hi Folks,
> I'm looking for information, tips, links, etc. on
> homemade, do-it-yourself water purifying filters...
_______________________________________________
Livingontheland mailing list
Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com



Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page