Background
Around the globe, humans currently suffer extensive droughts, desertification (habitable land becoming desert), the intrusion of salt water into freshwater aquifers, and the contamination of once-potable waters. These threats to our collective water resources – likely to increase in the future, as tensions grow over water rights – necessitate that we reduce our use of potable water for non-drinking purposes, recycle water wherever possible, and reconsider wastewater as an untapped resource.

Biofilters are systems utilizing living organisms to filter a media containing contaminants. Biofilters have been used to treat wastewater for millennia. In recent years, constructed wetlands have been deployed to attenuate diverse wastewaters from industrial, municipal, agricultural, and domestic sources. Subsurface wetlands have been designed to purify a variety of contaminated water stocks, including water corrupted by natural gas compressors, acid mine drainage, agricultural runoff, and other industrial processes.

Invention Description
The disclosed invention is an integrated biofilter constructed of inexpensive and locally available materials to decontaminate both gray and black wastewater, allowing these waters to be reused. The system combines a subsurface flow wetland, a living wall, living columns, and a green roof to create a complex of micro habitats for diverse bacteria and plant communities. A novel addition to the concept of a living wall enables materials to be added in layers to promote adsorption of specific pollutants. In preliminary tests, the system has demonstrated the ability to remove contaminants at an accelerated rate and efficiency compared to traditional treatments or non-integrated biofilters.

File Number: 3532