LIVING MACHINES: Clean, Green Waste-Water Recycling
by Olivia Chen
Resembling a tropical forest more than a concrete refinery, John Todd’s Living Machines offer an attractive solution to waste-water management. Consisting of a series of ecosystems that work together to break down water contaminants, Living Machines present a natural and eco-friendly way to filter and clean waste-water. The concept was recently awarded a Buckminster Fuller Award for its elegant application in cleaning up Appalachia’s water supply, and the innovative approach to waste-water management is currently being adopted and adapted by many eco-minded individuals around the country.
Converting sewer sludge to fresh water is no easy job; traditional treatment plants consume massive amounts of money, energy, and resources. John Todd’s Living Machines re-envision waste-water management as an eco-conscious endeavor, conserving water and reducing overall treatment costs with minimal sludge disposal, water purchases, sewer surcharges, and chemical use.
Part natural and part man-made, “Living machines” offer a manner of re-organizing natural resources to transform water from dirty to clean. In their most basic design, waste-water pulses through a minimum of three different ecological systems that process and filter it in different ways. Each ecological system is isolated from the others so that it can treat waste-water based on its own unique needs, after which the water cycles on to the next community.
Since the technology uses “helpful bacteria, fungi, plants, snails, clams and fish that thrive by breaking down and digesting pollutants”, selecting and then cultivating diverse communities is key in order for all compounds to be treated. The magic lies in understanding how the organisms interact and combining them just right so that they can soak up the nutrients they love, helping them grow while providing us with clean - if not drinkable - water.
Since their inception Living Machines have seen a variety of applications. Their rather remarkable use of living organisms makes them a shoe-in for use as an educational tool, as they are at Oberlin College, and the have also popped up at resorts, lake restoration sites, and even at chocolate maker Ethel M’s factory in Nevada.
