Moss-based filter system means less chlorine in swimming pools

By Don Gordon

Don Gordon is professor emeritus of botany at Minnesota State University-Mankato. To view all of Dr. Gordon's articles on Vox Verax go here. NOTE: This article was originally published in 2008.

I taught botany for nearly 40 years, and I learned early on that if you wanted to keep the student’s interest it was essential to point out the useful properties of each plant. For example, I could drone on and on about the life cycle of mosses and student enthusiasm could best be described at ho-hum, but when I told them that a handful of sphagnum moss could save their lives, they suddenly perked up. Today, I am going to devote an entire column to sphagnum moss. It is a plant with multiple uses and new research suggests it may save homeowners with pools or ponds both money and health problems; plus, it is also good for the environment.

Sphagnum moss has been used for centuries as a wound dressing in Scotland and Ireland. During World War I, it was used extensively by the British. It has remarkable antiseptic properties. It is still used today and is often combined with garlic water to prevent infection. Other uses include Sphagnol, a distillate of sphagnum peat tar, that is used to treat various skin diseases. Gardeners use this moss for starting seeds and amending soil; it is also a major ingredient in orchid potting mixes. Because of its water absorbent qualities, it is also used as a bedding material for livestock.

Recently, Dr. David Knighton, founder and Chairman of the Board of Creative Water Solutions discovered that sphagnum moss could serve as an alternative to chlorine in swimming pools. Knighton is a vascular surgeon and was familiar with the use of the moss as a wound dressing, and he came up with the idea of using it to treat water after reading a magazine article. The push to conduct additional research occurred after an August plane ride to northern Minnesota. On the plane he noticed some lakes in the south were green and covered with algae. As the flight progressed northward the lakes became clearer and devoid of the algae. A call to a biologist confirmed his suspicion that the lakes were clear because they contained sphagnum moss.

In the lab, Knighton confirmed two species of the moss inhibited the growth of algae, bacteria and fungi. One of these species is found in Northern Minnesota and the other is from New Zealand. Creative Water Solutions obtains moss for their products from New Zealand because the harvesting industry there is more active than in Minnesota. The company now markets their product nationwide. Because the EPA mandates that some chemicals be used in pools, their product cannot be used alone, but it does replace 70-80 percent of the chemicals. Pool users give rave reviews of the moss based filters because there are no burning eyes, deteriorating clothing or the smell associated with too much chlorine use.

The company claims use of these moss filters not only reduces chemical use and maintenance time, but they also reduce chemical corrosion of equipment, and they help to stabilize pH. Another good feature is that used filters may be recycled in the garden. My only concern is that if these filters really catch on there may not be enough sphagnum moss to keep up with demand.

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Why we need biodiversity

By Don Gordon
Mankato Free Press
Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010

The United Nations has designated 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity. Calling attention to this topic can’t come soon enough. Geoffrey Lean, writing in the Telegraph, reports that extinction rates are 1,000 and 10,000 times the natural rate.

We have not had an extinction rate this high since the demise of the dinosaurs. Some experts estimate that 13 million forms of life will disappear by the end of this century. In short, we are literally destroying the riches of this plan et at the fastest rate ever witnessed by man.

One out of every eight species worldwide is threatened with extinction. The list includes 30 percent of the world’s birds, a quarter of the mammals and 47 percent of the plants. In the plant category, those endangered include 14 percent of the roses and cherries and 32 percent of the irises and lilies. Here in the United States, 29 percent of our 16,108 plant species are in imminent danger.

Destroying biodiversity can have disastrous consequences, and there is no better example than Haiti. This country was once 99 percent covered in forest, and it produced nearly 50 percent of the coffee and sugar used in Europe. Today, more than 99 per cent of the original forest is gone, and the country is regarded as the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.

There are scores of reason for pre serving biodiversity. For example, we need these organisms for food, to hold soil, decompose our waste, purify water and reduce air pollution.

Quite often, the principal reason given for preserving bio diversity centers on the actual or potential medicinal value of plants and animals to humans.

For example, save a forest or prairie because the species there might contain a cure for cancer or some other exotic disease.

Now, here is a new reason. Save a forest or prairie, and it might prevent you from getting an infectious disease. In “Biodiversity Loss Affects Global Disease Ecology,” published in the journal Bioscience, researchers at the University of Vermont demonstrate that the emergence or reemergence of many diseases is correlated with loss of biodiversity.

The authors believe that the spread of malaria in Peru can be correlated with deforestation. When the structural framework of the forest was eliminated, the density of malaria transmitting mosquitoes increased, as did the biting rate.

In Minnesota, as well as in other parts of the United States, Lyme disease is of major concern, but the research team believes this disease was probably historically rare.

Humans get this disease from ticks infected with a bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi. The ticks obtain the bacterium by feeding on small mammals, such as white-footed mice, Peromyscus leucopus. Now, let’s go back a bit when we had more mammals and more forest cover. At that time, the ticks fed on many species, and only a limited number of ticks carried the disease to people.

As the population of humans increased, forested areas and mammals’ diversity declined. In contrast, white-footed mice, which thrive in species-poor places, increased significantly. Today, white-footed mice are the biggest reservoir of Lyme disease in the Northeastern United States.

Montira Pongsiri, one of the lead authors concludes, “The more white footed mice that are in the forest, the greater chance more ticks will be infected and the greater chance you have of getting bitten by an infected tick.” If you are worried about getting Lyme disease, you could just stay indoors or wear protective clothing, but Pongsiri believes protecting large forested areas in the vicinity of residential areas might be a better idea.

During the last three centuries we have destroyed 40 percent of the world’s forests and a great deal of the diversity they contained. Many scientists believe this has occurred because we have failed to put a price tag on the value of diversity. In 2010, the Year of Biodiversity, let’s hope we put a realistic value on a resource that is irreplaceable.

Don Gordon is professor emeritus of botany at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

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