THE MAGAZINE FOR THE DRAINAGE, WATER & WASTEWATER INDUSTRIES
EDITOR’S PICKS
After a decade of consultation with local communities and government officials, excited about an affordable, ecological wastewater treatment system instead of the current discharge of raw sewage into the marshes, the project team has signed an agreement with the Iraqi Ministry of the Environment to implement the first stage of the project.
Nelson said: “The Eden in Iraq design derives from different professional skills, ranging from technical to artistic. We are using imagery and wastewater to create a garden to symbolise the transformation of centuries of conflict into art.
Example of a wastewater garden in Algreria
that our beautiful wetlands system was thriving on those substances, and they were completing the water cycle, was a message that went out to millions.”
After leaving Biosphere 2, Nelson gained degrees in watershed management and ecological engineering and founded the company Wastewater Gardens International, which creates constructed wetlands.
Meanwhile, the lessons learned inside Biosphere 2 continue to resonate with an ever-widening audience – the project was the subject of a new documentary, Spaceship Earth, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah in January 2020. The wastewater garden concept is also gaining a higher global profile as companies, local authorities and municipalities seek to adapt to a circular economy and implement blue-green infrastructure as part of flood resilience and stormwater management strategies, particularly in urban areas.
Eden in Iraqwill provide
wastewater treatment in the southern Iraqmarshes
“Our aim is to bring an effective, ecological treatment system for sewage and water recycling into a region which lacks this and is in danger of losing its amazing history and culture. We hope Eden in Iraq will mark the start of a new era after decades of war and ecological devastation and can be important as a demonstration project for implementation elsewhere in Iraq, the Middle East and the world.”
While Nelson is encouraged that nature-based treatment projects are becoming more widespread globally, he wants to see a more rapid implementation.
“There is enormous potential for expanding constructed wetland treatment systems to places where there is lack of proper sanitation and contamination of drinking water. Our health depends on our biosphere and it is urgent we use every approach to better understand how it functions – and how we humans can cooperate with our ultimate life-support system, not degrade it.
“The Biosphere 2 project was 50 years ahead of its time. ‘Biosphere’ and ‘sustainability’ were then obscure academic words, but the world has caught up.
“We are now on the edge of all kinds of breakthroughs fuelled by peoples’ changing attitudes towards climate and a desire to become better stewards of nature. Meeting the challenges required to not just sustain but regenerate our living world, we can create healthier and more fulfilling futures for everyone.”
BlueTech Forum will take place at the Vancouver Convention Centre, on 6-8 June 2022, with the theme Radical Collaboration for Regeneration. Hosted by BlueTech Research, organisers are building an immersive experience to bring the story of water to life and ensure enduring impact.
Nelson’s BlueNote talk will also highlight the current Eden in Iraq project, a collaborative effort to provide effective wastewater treatment for Marsh Arabcommunities in the city of El Chibaish, in the southern Iraq marshes.
Chosen as one of 100 grassroots projects for UNESCO’s 2020-2021 Green Citizens Initiative, the project will deliver a 30,000 square meter wastewater garden to serve 7,500 inhabitants.
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Artist’s impression of the completed Eden in Iraqgarden March 2022 | 23
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