[Greenbuilding] Bio-filtration (was Re: surface area)

[RT]

On Thu, 07 Jun 2012 08:56:41 -0400, Gennaro Brooks-Church - Eco Brooklyn  
<info at ecobrooklyn.com> wrote:

> Foam would be a great colonizer but I want to stay away from synthetics
> given that it is a long term swimming pool and I don't want to worry  
> about leeching.
>

I remember years ago about this time (ie late May-early June) when I used  
to build vacation homes during my summer work term during university ...  
bathing in the f-f-f-f-f-rigid water of the northern Ontario lake after a  
long, hot day of feeding the mosquitoes and blackflies (ostensibly while  
working) -- in one there were honking-big leeches wriggling around in the  
still,black waters.
Gnnnna-a-aa!

But I digress.

I also remember that when I left my home town on the Bay of Quinte to go  
away to university, the waters of the Bay were pretty disgustingly  
polluted. This was at time when rivers in the Rust Belt states in the US  
would catch fire -- environmental awareness wasn't big on people's minds  
back then.

I was surprised a couple of decades later while walking along the shore of  
the Bay on a visit to the home town, to see that the water was crystal  
clear and the shoreline was free of the scummy crud that used to collect  
there.

My cousin, a avid fisherman revealed to me that Zebra Mussels were  
responsible for turning that once pollution-filled water into sparkling,  
crystal-clear water.

The thought occurred to me that those randy little mollusks might be  
useful as bio-filters for closed systems like swimming pools where there  
wouldn't be any aquatic life dependent upon micro-organisms in the water  
to sustain them.

I would imagine that there are no shortage of Zebra Mussels in the NYC  
area making themselves a Major PITA.  The biggest challenge it would seem,  
is how to ensure that they don't escape from the confines of the "pool"  
system.



-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom					AOD257
Kanata, Ontario, Canada

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