Sphagnum Moss for Water Purification... Possibly all you need?

[Cobweb]

I've been doing a bit of research on Sphagnum Moss and it appears to have Iodine in it's chemical make up. In the USA they are using as a water purification with spa's and swimming pools instead of chlorine and silver. In WW1 the Russian doctors used it to treat wounds, the wounds treated with the moss healed faster than wounds that were simply bandaged.

After wading through god knows how many research papers and what not, I've come to a conclusion.... Sphagnum Moss can kill off bad bacteria due to the Iodine present.

Now comes the biggie... does it kill off enough bacteria to make unsafe water, safe?
To be honest no one seems to have researched that.


I think that if you got some moss, bruised it up and let the water sit in it for, say, 15 minutes, the iodine would make the water safe to drink, all you would need to do after is filter it to get rid of the floaty bits.



With the cornucopia of people on this site, I was wondering if anyone had the equipment and availability to run tests?

Please discuss

 

[Toddy]

Oh nice bit of work Well done researching it too

No idea tbh, but I do know that my father helped his grandfather gather sack loads of the moss during the first world war. The moss was cleaned and used in field dressings. It is apparantly anti bacterial and mildly antibiotic too

Be excellent if it does work on the water as well


cheers,
Toddy

 

[IntrepidStu]

Nice work Cobweb.
Im interested in the properties of Spagnum but unfortunately im having trouble identifying it. Have you got a "close up" photo that would help me identify it from other mosses.

Cheers.
Stu.

 

[Bothwell_Craig]

It was also used as sanitary products for women.

There is a huge problem with areas of spaghnum moss being decimated to fulfill the wreath / hanging basket market, especially during the run up to xmas.

 

[novembeRain]

At a guess, I think you'd find it didn't work 100% but here in britain you'd probably get away with it as long as you weren't getting water from a minging stagnent pond.

Perhaps a better use for it would be to put it in a makeshift water filter -

I'm not 100% sure on how this is done but it's something like;

Cut the end off a bottle, shove a handfull of grass in it, then a handful of charcoal, then a handfull of grass, then sand, then grass. Pour water in the bottle and let it filter through, repeating untill water comes out clear - then boil.

Maybe you could swap the grass for moss to help with purification?

As moss soaks water up (and can be wrung out), would water wrung out of sphagnum moss be drinkable with no further work?

Other than that, I'll keep an eye on this as if you're right would be very usefull, good luck.

 

[Gailainne]

Guys

Before you all go out cutting it, I believe its a protected species, I seem to remember someone telling me its because of the hanging basket fad, it was ripped up with no thought, and it takes a long time to grow.

Stephen

PS the filter bottle idea is mostly correct, you use sand as a course filter, charcoal (finely ground dead embers) its not as good as activated charcoal but it has a large surface area which helps remove toxins and chemical/heavy metals, and the moss with its natural iodine, in multiple layers, to remove impurities, but the resultant water still has to be boiled to kill crypto and the like.

 

[w00dsmoke]

Yes spaghnum bogs are usually sssi's and are protected. Spaghnum moss probably would make a good "filter" but I don't think I'd trust it as a purifer. In the 2nd world war people would use it as poultices over shrapnel injuries and bomb injuries, even in this country, in fact it was picked for this purpose and it is widely known to be rich in iodine.

If the iodine was potent enough to act as a purifier, then surely the water in the stagnant ditches that often cut through spaghnum bogs are the purest in the world? I'm sure this isn't the case. I wouldn't trust it as a purifier, but as a filter, absolutley, I'm sure if there was enough of it compacted into a funnel or sock it would act as a very good filter.

It makes the best bog paper in the world! Pure heaven...

 

[Gailainne]

It makes the best bog paper in the world! Pure heaven...

Agreed.

 

[burning]

At a guess, I think you'd find it didn't work 100% but here in britain you'd probably get away with it as long as you weren't getting water from a minging stagnent pond.

It wouldn't work, the moss can't remove pathogens, cysts, etc from the water nevermind 'run off' weedkillers/fertilisers from fields. Personally i'd filter and then boil to be safe, or use a proper filter made for the job.

 

[Bothwell_Craig]

Sphagnum Moss can only be collected with the landowners permission.

 

[Bothwell_Craig]

Agreed.

Thirded!!!

 

[korvin karbon]

you guys would have loved being in the roman legion, bucket, cloth and a stick with a balled cloth on the end

anyway, is there a botanical way of actually making water safe to drink, i dont jsut mean of particles but of virus and bacteria? It could make a green home very green

 

[Toddy]

Yep, 1 bottle of whisky will sterilise a waterbutt full of water It won't deal with run off chemicals or heavy metals though

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Gailainne]

you guys would have loved being in the roman legion, bucket, cloth and a stick with a balled cloth on the end

anyway, is there a botanical way of actually making water safe to drink, i dont jsut mean of particles but of virus and bacteria? It could make a green home very green

Not botanical, but natural yes, concentrated UV will/does kill all living organisms.

The only positive aspect of the holes in the ozone layer !, of course we are also living organisms, oops.

Actually the Romans were very hygenic, the sponge on a stick idea kept them away from harmful bacteria. As well as there use of steam rooms. amoung the first people to use running water toilets.

Stephen

 

[Bothwell_Craig]

What have the bloody Romans ever done for us eh????

 

[Toddy]

They knew their essential oils........the used lavender in that bucket for washing the sponges on sticks to clean backsides..........and it killed the bugs Lavender/ lavatory......actually the Medieval monks called their loos the necessarium

cheers,
M

 

[firecrest]

Well if sphagnum wont work on its own, the next step is to find something put with if to help a bit further.

 

[Gailainne]

What have the bloody Romans ever done for us eh????

Oh a Monty Python quote...well apart from sanitation, roads, bridges, medicine, laws...
yeah apart from THOSE..what have the Romans done for us.............

Cant remember the rest....I still crack up at at John Cleese as the Centurian correcting (who was it)s latin graffiti.

BTW Toddy what a horrendous waste of good whisky, diluting it like that...shame on you for even suggesting it.

Stephen

 

[korvin karbon]

hrmmm, worth the question though.

Knew about UV but the idea of a botanical water filter would have made my dream home quite groovy LOL

 

[Toddy]

Ach it doesnae need to be 'good' whisky it could even be............oooh I was nearly racist there and I like those folks too

cheers,
M