Ferns clean up poisoned water

Sunday, 12 February 2012

Ferns clean up poisoned water

Source: Nature Science Update

14 May 2004 | EN

Ferns can purify water that has been contaminated with arsenic, according to new research. A team of US scientists has found that the species of fern called Pteris vittata can suck arsenic out of tainted water, reducing arsenic levels nearly 100-fold within 24 hours.

The scientists hope that the procedure could be a cheap and quick way to clean up water supplies in places such as Bangladesh and India, where arsenic pollution of drinking and irrigation water has emerged as a massive health threat.

But others warn that the approach might not be suitable for cleaning large volumes of water, and that many poor nations lack the infrastructure needed to maintain such treatment facilities.

Link to full Nature Science Update news story

Add your comment

This is your network: share your views on any of our articles by adding your comments.

Comment

You need to be signed in to post a comment or to email a consenting comment author. Please sign in or sign up.

Email me when someone responds to the discussion

All comments are subject to approval and we reserve the right to edit comments containing inappropriate/unsuitable language. SciDev.Net holds copyright for all material posted on the website. Please see terms of use for further details.

All SciDev.Net material is free to reproduce providing that the source and author are appropriately credited. For further details see Creative Commons.

Back to News
To the top