The Volunteer, an Update From Omega
July 8, 2010
Right of the bat I would like to say that 13 out of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers agree that the OCSL EcoMachine is, in fact, a healing space. Can the same be said for municipal wastewater treatment? I think not.
Jonathan dips a nitrate test strip at Omega
A few weeks ago Jonathan, myself, and the visiting Lauren Roth, left the pleasant sea-breezed Cape and traveled to the equally pleasant rolling hills of Rhinebeck, NY. I had never before seen the eco-machine at Omega and was struck and excited by the health and vitality of the system.
Integral to the health of the system is the tinkering and attention of the operator. At Omega, Chuck can tell simply by the surface foam and the look of the water how the system is operating. He takes well-earned pride and satisfaction in the system’s smooth running. For me, this is an often overlooked and unmentioned aspect of the EcoMachine. In the ecological treatment of wastewater the human is not absent. If anything when compared to conventional treatment, the human is more present. In an EcoMachine the operator acts not simply as industrial laborer, opening valves and adding chemicals, but also as a gardener. He is an ecologist observing the growth and change of the system over time, tending to it as it responds to the varying inputs of the seasons and of the facilities use. In complex biological systems trained human intuition seems to be often as accurate as any test of TSS or nutrient content. The systems aggregate health is not difficult to evaluate and for the most part need not be done in a lab. Instead it is readily apparent in the growth of the new leaves, the movement of the water, and many other subtle clues.
Flower and Ground Cover at Omega
The system at Omega is healthy and well tended. In the Greenhouse the Calla Lilly and ground covers are growing vigorously. In the constructed wetlands the Cattails have formed robust colonies. Scattered through-out the native shrubs and sedges, are huge Irises, and everywhere some strange thin plant has spread, competing even with the cattails for its place in the sun. What is it what is its role? Is it a free loader in our treatment system out-competing other wetland species for space, or is it working, providing valuable filtration, uptaking nutrients, and contributing root mass surface area?
The mystery plant: Epilobium
Jonathan recognized the plant, thin leaved, closed purple flowers atop slender seed pods, as having hitchhiked in with the soft-stem bull rush. He knew neither its name nor its function. Pulling the plant carefully out of the gravel we compared its roots with those of the bulrush. The white roots of this volunteer were easily discernible from the red roots of the bulrush, they were extensive, deep, thickly gripping the soil and gravel, a rich organic layer surrounded the root cluster.
Back in Woods Hole (thank you Roberta Clark and David Anderson) we learned the name of this plant: Epilobium Coloratum. Epilobium, also known as willow-herb is a common and widely distributed perennial wetland species. Willow herb is a colonizer; it sends out many small airborne seeds and tends to be one of the first plants to grow in disturbed wetland environments. At Omega the Epilobium will spread throughout the system. In its roots pockets of healthy soil microbiology will be established, as it dies and is replaced by hardier species, it will leave behind a source of readily accessible carbon which will be used in the fixing of nitrogen and the uptake of soluble phosphorous.
