Problem:
The Columbia River is so dirty that it’s not safe to swim in it.
Biomimicry Idea:
Use the cattail’s design to make a eco-friendly water filter for rivers and other bodies of water.
Solution:
Mimic a cattail’s filtering system. Cattail filter out pollution like nitrogen and phosphorous in a natural way. We will make a “Cattail Water Filter” that you can attach to docks, boats, and boat houses. It will magnify the power of the cattails filtering by ten. The water that is surrounding the house boat or dock will be cleaner than the surrounding water due to the Cattail Filter. You will have to replace the filter every year for best performance. This will make our rivers a safer place to play.
How do Cattails help us ?
Cattails absorb toxins such as arsenic. Cattails take in the polluted water and absorb the toxins and use it as nutrients. OMSI, Portland’s science museum, has used cattails in their bioswales to help absorb the pollution from cars in the parking lot.
