European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 16, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse App Holn Ben Pesavento is a designer of Cattail wetlands. He 5 the head of environment analytic service inc. It s nature Healing itself Pennsylvania s Cattail wetlands by Bob Dvorcak associated press attains sprout defiantly from the Orange acidic goo leaching from an abandoned slip mine off the bumpy Bac roads of Western Pennsylvania. Researchers Are amazed not by the plants surviving in such a wretched environment bul by the cleansing work they do. The cattails Are removing Iron and other meals irom the water and. Some believe neutralizing Tho acid. It s nature Healing itself says Javed Mirza District mining manager or the state department of environmental resources de there is som Elhag going on thai Lowers Tho Iron Content and makes the water less acidic some of Hicso things grow in stuff you would t want to Louch with you fool because of Iheson curative Powers the lowly Wallait has become a favored Flower of environmentalists and Coal operators working to curb the to spending $ i million. Day to treat acid mine Olner than wetlands there 15 no other available that is cheap Lew maintenance find applicable it not a Panacea but of to ihi1. In ing am of Ifie Host we have for correcting a lot of Liu acid mine seepage Nihro Ghoul the Nahon wetlands have particular Promise in Pennsylvania which had produced one thid of the Nalion s Rutal As of 1977 Tho slate adopt cd sine mining guidelines in hit 1960s hut hours numerous mining scars in addition to 2.000 or Nora of polluted streams the Szalc has 200,000 acres of ground prone to the Al feels of collapsing mines. 15 mine fires and mountains of Waslo the stale Der estimates in would Cost 315 billion Loco Roll All Itie ills scientists have known Tor years a at wetlands Are nature s Way til Juril Yini water ,11 Wright slalom Gruver Ity in Ohio and Wesl Virginia univ Cisily Slu Dieci the Healing Powis of peal hags on acid drainage in Ltd 10jo i Pennsylvania s Clarion University was one of Iii a slate universities invited to Subr nil plans til study Cattail Welland Sal a3ioacreahancjoned ship mine in Clarion county the owner of the Coal company died and it companies thai held the Bond wore planning to Denu i and Lei the state reclaim the Sile bul through an agreement Witti the stale inc companies agreed to put up research Money while an operator from Distant awas hired to do the on harsh hillsides researchers would like to know Why the wetlands keep cleansing in the Winter when the Dun coloured cattails turn to seed others Mantlo know Hor to make the marshes work More Coffi Cicil a in one Marsh acid drainage undergoes a dramatic transformation in a distance of about Looi eel the acid level coming Inlo lie Marsh has a Phol 5 3 and leaves Wilh a Phol 6 7 on Iho pm style. A lower number Means More acidity and 7 0 is Neutral Ben Pesavento head of environment an Alyc service inc of Mercer county is an Independent designer of Cattail wetlands he did Laboratory work on treating acid with marshes in 1971 and built a working wetlands in 1975 it was rejected by the state As being too Radical too simple they thought i was Cray 15 year Sago Pesavent Losys wove shown a Soto people we can clean up an awful lot of wafer without massive amounts of chemicals. We have a lot of them where the water is blood red coming in and coming out Clear on the other end we Haven t even started to Lap the potential ten to 15 years irom now. Inc re does t have to be any More Rod streams in Pennsylvania Pesavento claims a 90 percent Success Rale in removing Iron and 70 percent Success Rale in lowering manganese a Metal thai can make porcelain and laundry turn Brown he believes wetlands can also be used to treat Industrial wastes and leaching from sanitary landfills. The Moat visible part of the wetlands arc the cattails acid Loving plans by thei Reod like leaves and fuzzy Brown spikes on their stems cattails act As cleansers bul researchers say their most important function is acting As the foundation for growths of algae and a Clyna. The microbes do the heavy work on Iron and manganese dissolved in the water Tho wellands Tako up the metals and concentrate them. Iron is convened Back to pyrite where in is deposited and buried in Iho muck in a form that does not my with water. It s a cleansing agony or scrubber its nol a matter of filtering out. Because you can t idler the Iron Oul of the water says Ernest Aharrah biology professor at Ciarron University it s being recycled that s probably How the stuff was deposited in inc first place what we re trying to do is repeal what nature did millions of years ago the Neal thing is this is a self generating system anything else requires constant input and Upkeep there s a lot of quo Lions that need to to answered bul 1 Don i need to know How or Why if it works let s use it the stars and stripes Page 17
