History

There is so much to tell about the history of helophyte filters...

A bit of history

Constructed Wetlands, sometimes referred to as reed bed purification or treatment wetlands, are already about sixty-five years old. The first studies, particularly in Germany and Denmark and later in the United States, immediately showed that swamp plants can be used to build highly efficient water purification systems.

Well-known names from the first hour are Dr. Käthe Seidel and Prof. Kikuth, they did groundbreaking research in Germany and Denmark. Almost at the same time, there were also developments in the United States. A number of different types of helophyte filters developed.

Initially, however, there were problems with the flow. How was the filter to be put together so that you kept good purification, but also the certainty that the system was really durable and did not get clogged? When these problems (and what could not go wrong when you work with wastewater) were better understood, development accelerated. And the step to the application in rural areas, as an interesting alternative to a connection to the (pressure) sewer system, was quickly made.

The following is a section that, as far as we know, is the oldest text related to helophyte filters:

Drainage

(extract from an essay written by Nemo to the head of Hornsby Literary Institute in 1904)

The drainage of suburban houses is always giving trouble and is a matter about which most people seem utterly helpless. In districts where there is no sewerage system householders can find that every day they have a large amount of dirty water to dispose of, and the difficulty is to know how to get red of it. People who live on high ground throw it into an open drain and let it run away to the lower ground where it generates foul gases which generate disease. Others allow all their dirty water to run into the street where it flows along the gutters filling the air with foul odours and causing typhoid and kindred maladies. If people live near a creek or natural watercourse they send their drainage into that, thereby polluting it and turning one of the beauties of nature into a poisonous sewer which carries disease germs a long distance. Should people happen to live near a river or an arm of the sea they think that of course that is the proper place for getting rid of what they do not want. For the last 100 years or so, Sidney Harbour has been looked upon as a huge receptacle for the people of Sidney wherein to throw all their abominations, both solid and liquid.

Surely, after all, in spite of our boasted civilisation, we are little better than the savages when our ways are so unclean. When you remonstrate with anyone he says, "Well, what am I to do?" Very true, it must certainly go somewhere: but most people put it in the wrong place and they are really too lazy to take up the question for themselves and work on it, but expect the municipal council or the government to do all that is necessary and to relieve them of all the responsibility in the matter. This tendency to lean upon others is a bad sign and the sooner we learn to think and work for ourselves and put our own shoulder to the wheel, the better it will be for all concerned. If every householder disposed of his own drainage on his own premises as he might very easily do, the health of all of us would be much improved. Anyone who has a little ground about his house can dispose of his dirty water as follows:

Dig up a plot of ground thoroughly to a depth of between fifteen to eighteen inches. Cut a channel leading from the kitchen and washhouse into the highest side of the plot and let all the dirty water drain into it. Plant the plot with plants that grow rapidly and require a great deal of water such as Arum Lilies, for instance. The dirty water will be all absorbed by the roots of the plants and a most luxurious garden will be produced which will defy the hottest weather and will be always green and beautiful. By this means a curse will be transformed into a blessing.

The writer is acquainted with a gentleman living in Hornsby having a very large establishment who disposes of all his drainage in this way. He has seven channels leading to seven parts of his garden. Every day he changes the course of his drainage so that each channel is only used once a week. He has found the scheme to work most successfully and raises luxurious crops of vegetables even in the driest weather. Of course his scheme requires that the householder should have a certain amount of land, the more the better, but anyone with a fair sized backyard can carry it out. Twenty or thirty feet square worked would be enough for an ordinary family. The more sloping the land the better this scheme works.