Researchers at Michigan Technological University are on to a simple, low cost solution to the complicated problem of keeping antibiotics out of water supplies. In a study of vetiver grass grown in antibiotic-laden water, they found that 95.5% of the drugs were removed from the water and taken into the plant tissue.
— From “Perfume Grass” Could Solve Problem of Antibiotics in Water Supply at Clean Technica.
Ahh, vetiver, your awesomeness knows no bounds.
I *love* this!!! For so many reasons…(said the gardener/perfume nut/water conservationist)…
Moon_grrl & ScentScelf, ditto!
And for anyone who missed it, here’s a video about the use of vetiver in erosion control:
https://nstperfume.com/2009/10/22/my-bff-vetiver/
I foresee big problems if it becomes invasive, choking out native vegetation in areas to which it is introduced.
That doesn’t seem to be a problem in the countries where they’re using it for erosion control.
We have huge problems with decorative grasses and that hideous purple loosestrife choking up our watersystems. I would not be happy if vetiver was that aggressive, but I understand it is OK. It can keep our (for the time being) happy peeping frogs company!
Also note that (for whatever it’s worth and however accurate it is) they took pains to mention the following in the article:
“Though a non-native species, vetiver is easily controlled and is not considered invasive, so don’t be surprised to see a big place for it in the sustainability toolkit of the future.”
Oh, that makes me so happy. I love vetiver, and last night I just saw this very sad “Nature” show on PBS about frogs and amphibians, and how so many toxins in the water are ruining them, and really ruining us… Yeah! I will go home and anoint the creek across from my house (which is indeed part of the headwater system for the Delaware River) with a spritz of some of my new bottle of Cristalle…. And maybe start growing some vetiver.
Oh, Ann. I can hardly watch those. CBS Sunday Morning had a thing on endangered animals and they showed a photo session of one of the last two (some type of endangered) bunnies. Both female. They are both dead now and there are no more. Forever. Of course, bunnies are cute and it is easy to get behind them and other “cute” endangered animals and not pay so much attention to amphibians and other less cute endangered animals. However, they really are our canaries in the coal mine and we should listen. Remember a while back that article about genetically engineering anosmic mosquitoes to try and halt the spread of disease? I asked two of my environmental engineer friends about that and the first thing one of them said was “they’re frog food!” If mosquitoes are unable to smell to find food they will naturally die out and lots of frogs will follow. While I have a little hesitation about a non-native being introduced into certain environments, the fact that vetiver can absorb upwards of 95% of antibiotics in our water sounds like a miracle. I just can’t get rid of that little feeling that miracles always come with a price somewhere down the line.
I saw the same Nature program! It really made me sad and this post made me think that perhaps there are other plants out there that may help to purify our streams by absorbing those toxins that are killing the frogs and other animals crucial to the ecosystem.
Not to worry! Nonfertility is ANOTHER one of Vetiver’s remarkable characteristics. It’s sterile, non-competitive and non-invasive. More than 100 semi-tropical and tropical countries use Vetiver for slope stabilization, erosion control, and other applications. This plant is so stable that surveyors rely on Vetiver hedges as boundary markers.
That is great to know.
Ann, I hear you. I read a long article a few months back about the Chesapeake estuary and state of Delaware egg/chicken farms that just about made me cry.
Then there was a radio show this weekend about evolving “toilet to tap” technology (don’t laugh OR go “ew”… it’s the future!).
We need to clean up our act… but yeah, the nonnative worry about it running amok is a big concern also. Very “damned if you do/don’t.” Interesting article!
Joe, can you believe that the CWA (I think stands for Chesapeake Water Authority) actually has control over monitoring the water that flows right by my house! They are really beginning to crack down which is a good thing. We have all kinds of wonderful animal habitat around here with bald eagels, great heron, all kinds of ducks and geese, fish, tree frogs, bull frogs, et. al. that live up here in our beautiful plateau head waters. I hate the idea that all this beautiful water gets so contaminated. I am also happy that the one local municipality I live in won an arbitration with a very big box national store over their over-dumping and use of the local water treatment center. Their warehouse would dump entire mops and buckets down the sewer system!…. I was happy they got stuck with the guilt. Ha. This big company had to pay for a facility upgrade for the township!
Beautiful. Now tell me that my favorite plant, equisetum, works that well, and make me happy.
Fantastic! But now I want to know what happens to the antibiotics once they’ve been vetiverized. Would the oil from that plant be high in antibiotics? So interesting, our friend vetiver…
SO glad someone mentioned this aspect. We are already losing natural varieties of soy and banana due to intentional bioengineering on farmed crops.
What will something like this do, in the long run, to our precious vetiver?
And what will the outcome be on people in close contact with this antibiotic infused plant?
Hopefully these questions are picked at and answered before jumping on this as a solution…
One could argue, the best solution, is to cut back on antibiotic use and to more carefully monitor and cleanse where such output goes…
Certainly antibiotics have been overused or misused in many cases. Being more discriminating in their use would be a good thing in many ways. Part of the problem may be that some of the antibiotic taken is excreted winds up in the wastewater stream. Conventional wastewater treatment is not necessarily designed to destroy pharmaceuticals. In other words, if you take an antibiotic (or any drug) you pee it out later. That is the basis of drug tests using urinalysis. Also, many people do not use up prescriptions, although they certainly should in the case of an antibiotics, and dispose of the leftover down the toilet. I can even remember when that was how we were TOLD to dispose of leftover drugs. I don’t know how to monitor what people do in their own homes, short of Big Brother installing closed circuit cameras in every room of every house (heaven forbid!)
I understand the concerns about invasive species, having heard the horror stories about kudzu, but keep in mind that not all non-native species are invasive. Most of the plant species we use for food–wheat, rice, oats, most of our fruits and vegetables ( not including squash, tomatoes, potatoes, and corn) are non-native. They were introduced by European settlers who wanted the same foods they had had back home. Most of the ornamental plants and shrubs in are gardens are introduced species as well. The majority of them are not invasive. Certainly the possibility of invasiveness needs to be assessed before using a “new” species on a large scale, but it is mistaken to assume that any newly introduced species will be a problem.