Tech uses water lily, bamboo to clean rivers

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipino professor is proposing the use of a low-cost technology using water hyacinth (water lily) and bamboo to clean polluted rivers in the country.

Dr. Macrina Zafaralla, a professor of environmental science at the University of the Philippines-Los Baños, said water hyacinth can be used as a biological filter in water treatment schemes.

“Thick mats of water hyacinth are useful for cleaning polluted bodies of water of heavy metals,” Zafaralla said.

Bamboo, on the other hand, will serve as the barrier so that the water hyacinth mats will not move, she added.

“We can also do this in cleaning the Pasig River,” she said, adding that the system is also being utilized in China and Japan.

Zafaralla has led the team that successfully revived the polluted Molawin creek in Los Baños, Laguna using the technology.