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over the past decade

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NASA's national space technology

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laboratories n STL in Bay st. Louis

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Mississippi has been doing related

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research when people begin living in

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space and Disney's Epcot Center in

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Florida have adopted research done in

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honesty oh by using a plant called the

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water hyacinth in their treatment of raw

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sewage this commonly the water hyacinth

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literally thrives on sewage the plant

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has a complex root mass which acts like

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a filter bacteria microorganisms that

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grow on the root systems break down and

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digest the sewage allowing the hyacinth

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to absorb nutrients

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toxic chemicals and even radioactive

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waste the effluent that comes out of

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this system which is treated sewage for

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a couple of days is of such high quality

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that would need only to go through a few

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final steps before it is drinkable the

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hyacinth dislikes cold water but when in

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a warm fire it grows at such a furious

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rate that it needs to be harvested on a

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regular

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once hardships

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for animals or shredded and loaded into

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a digester for further processing and

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the biogas which can be used as a fuel

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the city of San Diego's water Utilities

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Department has adopted the use of water

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hyacinth in a large-scale project to use

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plain raw sewage and process it into

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drinking water

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another plant related water filtration

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system recently developed through

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research at n SPL is called a rough reed

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filter in this case polluted Mississippi

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river water passes through granular rock

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containing reed plants the roots from

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the reeds and a high surface area of the

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rocks support bacteria that break down

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pollutants and purify water since weeds

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can tolerate cold weather this system

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works very well in regions where water

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hyacinths can't grow the latest research

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at n STL has been with a spider plant

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system that purifies air along the same

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lines as the rock reed filter does for

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water air is purified as it's drawn

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through the spider plant interacting

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with activated carbon and the plants

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root system of n STM now this is an

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exciting new technology that's emerging

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and we're looking at now it not only

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allow fewer plants inside a home to

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purify the air but it has tremendous

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applications for our future space

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station as we look towards developing a

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space station already moonbase others so

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these technology is evolving from

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aquatic plants to common house plants

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we're beginning to put this technology

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together for practical simplified

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everyday use with the ultimate

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long-range goal of perfecting a clothes

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ecological life-support system for a