Water, Sewage & Effluent Mar Vol 30 No 2 | Page 22

Vetiver grass roots are lifted to show the long fibrous roots. Wetlands
can do for free what engineered systems do at great cost.

Vetiver grass grows in pipes. The grasses have a myriad
uses and are also used to prevent soil erosion.

“Most importantly, the
vetiver absorbed all
the nitrates and all the
phosphates. Vetiver
is an amazing plant: it
also absorbs certain
heavy metals. Where
you have bacteria like E.
Coli, the bacteria attach
themselves to the root
system, resulting in E.
Coli counts of zero. The
results were impressive."

Figure 1: WSE proposal documents

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Water Sewage & Effluent March/April 2016