Designing Ecological Habitats - Gaia Education

There are many ways to approach Module 3. One approach that needs to be considered
in any EDE course is the technology of ‘constructed wetlands’ – handled expertly here by
Michael Shaw, who is based at Findhorn. Michael treats the subject as a true engineer
and here describes the construction process step-by-step, providing the biological and
ecological background to justify the design decisions that are made. While available open
space is a consideration, there is no doubt that the constructed wetland is appropriate
technology at the scale of the ecovillage.
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Wetlands for the Ecovillage
Michael Shaw –
Biomatrix Water Technology, LLP, Scotland
Out of their loneliness for each other
two reeds, or maybe two shadows, lurch
forward and become suddenly a life
lifted from dawn or the rain. It is
the wilderness come back again, a lagoon
with our city reflected in its eye.
We live by faith in such presences.
It is a test for us, that thin
but real, undulating figure that promises,
“If you keep faith I will exist
at the edge, where your vision joins
the sunlight and the rain: heads in the light,
feet that go down in the mud where the truth is.”
‘Spirit of Place: Great Blue Heron’
from Even in Quiet Places by WilliaM stafford
What is a Constructed Wetland?
Constructed wetlands treat sewage by passing the polluted water through a
bed of gravel about 70 centimetres deep in which plants are growing. The
gravel is installed over a liner or a bed of clay. The sewage is fed into the
wetland at one end and takes several days to pass to the other, where it is
collected and discharged. A septic tank is installed ahead of the wetland
to collect plastics and other non-organic material and provide anaerobic