rethinking design - Spatial Design@Massey

ethinking design
Low-tech Solar Water Purification
Solar Water Purification is a simple technology used to improve
the quality of drinking water. The process is extremely basic and
all is needed is a transparent plastic bottle fill of contaminated
water and six hours of sunlight. The process work through solar
UV-A radiation and a temperature increase which deactivates the
pathogens within the water, which are the cause of diarrhea.
Diarrhea is directly responsible for 2.5 million deaths a year of
which most are children under 5.
“Pic 4”
Solar water purification is a remarkable use of appro technology but
is limited because of its inability to treat large volumes of water and
its inability to clean particularly murky water.
(Sodis. Solar Water Disinfection - The method:
http://www.sodis.ch/Text2002/T-TheMethod.htm)
“Pic 5”
John Todd
A Living Machine
John Todd’s solution to the treatment of large amounts of wastewater is remarkable to say
the least. His method is a eco-conscious process of which he re-organizes natural resources
to treat water from dirty to clean. This is achieved by sending water through various unique
ecological systems that filter and treat the wastewater until it is completely clean.
“pic 6”
This living machine is comprised of interrelated ecologies which all work together to break
down pollutants within the wastewater. The machines uses ““helpful bacteria, fungi, plants,
snails, clams and fish” all organized in a specific way to clean the water.
(Chen, O. (2008). Living Machines: Clean, Green Waste-Water Recycling.
http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/08/06/living-machines-turning-wastewater-clean-with-plants/)
“pic 7”
This process was tested recently in Fuzhou. A city of 6 million
people in china. Fuzhou has 80 kilometers of cannels that run
throughout the city. Fuzhou is not equipped with a wastewater
treatment infrastructure so all the wastewater is dumped straight
into the cannels.
The cannels came to point where they had become a health risk for
the city’s inhabitants and the aquatic ecosystems downstream.
In 2002 John Todd applied his principals behind the living machine
to design a restorer for the Fuzhou cannels using 12000 plants composed of native species.