Banana tree filtration

[duanes]

I've been reading a lot about the use of banana tree pseudo stem logs used in filtering out volatile organics from drinking water.
After harvesting the fruit, the tree is cut, and normally discarded, but trickling water thru the stem seems to remove pollution, from streams, and/or wells.
I grow one banana tree per year in the yard, and once the hand of fruit is removed, the pseudo stem will cut it up into chunks, and added to a sump if anything it does as an aquarium application.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

This is too curt for me to think about it. What does it filter out? For how long and how much water can be passed?

We have banana plants here, plenty of them. They bring fruit. The stems that fall in standing water rot rather quickly and smell revolting.

 

[esoxlucius]

I've read about this myself. The idea came from Central America, an area where there are vast areas with dirty drinking water. Some areas, where certain industries are prolific, have been shown to have harmful hydrocarbons in the water. As a result illness and, in some cases, cancers have prevailed.

Small tests have been done with these banana pseudo stems, though how it works is not clear, and the resulting "filtered" water was an improvement on what they have currently.

It is very very early in development. How they'd do such a thing on an industrial scale to provide better water for millions of people I simply do not know.

Victor has a valid point regarding banana stems. Once cut, and the natural flow of water stops to feed those huge leaves, they die and become mush. How that can possibly aid water filtration is a puzzle to me, but somebody in Central America seems to have come up with a solution!

Keep this thread alive Duane, your findings will be interesting.