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East Africa's Lakes
East Africa's Lakes
East Africa's Lakes
A Case Study
Lakes Awassa (Ethiopia) & Naivasha (Kenya)
Urban Pollution:
Bring urban sewage discharge to EPA standards - both public and domestic
Control industrial effluent discharge to Lakes
Based on
A unique plant
Vetiver
Chrysopogon zizanioides
The Hedge: a dense barrier above The Plant - sturdy and stiff The Root - 1 year old
and below ground Deep and Strong
The Vetiver Network International 6
Grimshaw / Truong - May 2009
SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PLANT -
VETIVER
• Grows under extreme and wide range of conditions
• Long living perennial grass
• Air temperatures: -15 º C to >55º C
• Soil pH from <3 to >10
• Annual Rainfall <300 mm to > 5,000 mm. Tolerant to extreme drought
• Tolerates at high levels all heavy metals
• Saline tolerant (salinity threshold ECse = 8 dSm-1)
• Fire tolerant
• Tolerant to long and total submergence in water
• Resistant to most pests and diseases
• Powerful (average 75 MPa) root strength and deep root system
• Non competitive and non invasive. According to the PIER level of
invasiveness criteria, non fertile vetiver cultivars are rated - 8.
(An acceptable level for plant importation by the most strict countries is +1)
Sewage effluent infested with Blue-Green Same effluent after 4 days after treating with
algae due to high Nitrate (100mg/L) and vetiver, reducing N level to 6mg/L (94%)
high Phosphate (10mg/L) and P to 1mg/L (90%)
Vetiver hedgerow planted on a 20% slope in Fiji had developed a terrace with a
2 meter rise after 30 years. This is not possible with engineered structures. Other
plants are unable to do this. Vetiver has a unique tillering function.
The Vetiver Network International 17
Grimshaw / Truong - May 2009
FIFTY YEARS AFTER PLANTING
HEDGEROWS STILL FUNCTION
Vetiver hedgerows near Rakiraki, Fiji
High biomass - 70tons/ha dry matter per ha equivalent (top left), Forage (top right), increased maize,
coffee, banana yields due to improved soil fertility (mulching), increased soil moisture, and insect
-maize stem borer - and banana nematode reduction. PLUS thatching material and handicraft
material. The Vetiver Network International 20
Grimshaw / Truong - May 2009
VETIVER - TESTED, USED, AND PROVEN FOR
SOIL CONSERVATION BY ETHIOIAN FARMERS
Vetiver hedgerows from space at Mettu,
Ethiopia (left), and Jimma coffee research
station (below).
Year 1
200
Year 2
Year 3
150
100
50
0
runoff - mm soil loss - % reduction in soil loss - % reduction in soil loss -
tons/ha runoff tons/ha runoff tons/ha
Vetiver hedgerows improve in performance with age. Farmers say that where they have
good 20 years old hedges there is virtually no soil loss or rainfall run off .
Community, social and land issues were very important, and had to be solved for a successful
Outcome. Farmers were able to choose a combination of up to 6 crop models, all included Vetiver.
The Vetiver Network International 31
Grimshaw / Truong - May 2009
COMPLETE, STABLE, AND PRODUCTIVE
Unprotected highway fill (left) ends up in the nearby river (right), polluting the water supply of thousands
downstream users.
This cut (left) was not stabilized and slipped (right) blocking traffic)
The Vetiver Network International 33
Grimshaw / Truong - May 2009
Vetiver protects the cut slope of a major highway in
Vietnam
Chrysopogon zizanioides
Vetiver Hedges
Drainage
Channel
Grimshaw / Truong - May 2009 The Vetiver Network International 58
Looking sideway towards the channel opening
Flow direction
Submerged
Vetiver hedges
Drainage channel
Small erosion
Trapping sediment
COMPRISING:
• Biomass up to 132t/ha
1200 1,140
1000
800
600
600 500
360
400
N kg/ha/year 250
200 90
Plant Species
160 149
140
120
100 90 90
80 70 70
60
P kg/ha/year
40
15
20
0
Rye grassEucalyptus
Kikuyu Grass
Rhodes Grass
Vetiver Dryland Forage Sorghum
Plant Species
Grimshaw / Truong - May 2009 The Vetiver Network International 76
High N and P removal: With high capacity of removing N and P
in polluted water, vetiver cleaned up blue green algae in 4 days
Sewage effluent infested with Same effluent after 4 days
Blue-Green algae due to high after treating with vetiver,
Nitrate (100mg/L) and high reducing N level to 6mg/L
Phosphate (10mg/L) (94%) and P to 1mg/L (90%)
08/12/00
Grimshaw / Truong - May 2009 The Vetiver Network International 77
Vetiver roots
thrive in high N
and P sewage
effluent
Tolerance to 80
extremely high 60
levels of nutrients 40
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
P Application (kg/ha/yr)
100
80
60
40
0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
Grimshaw / Truong - May 2009 The Vetiver Network International
N Application (kg/ha/yr) 79
Very high concentration of Diuron and Atrazine
herbicides in wetland did not affect vetiver growth
Domestic effluent
Banana
Sugarcane
Vetiver
Septic
Toilet
Effluent
2 5
r r
o o
w w
Monitoring
s wells s
Exit: Total N level at 16mg/L
or a reduction of 83%
Monitoring
wells
2 5
r r
o o
w w
Monitoring
s wells s
The are made from black cotton soil - the concrete slabs
are useless and should be replaced by Vetiver (stability and
phytoremediation). The top left image shows industrial toxic
material that should have been prtereated before being
discharged to this public utility. The pond at the right is a
sort of wet land using Eucalypts. Not effective. Vetiver
removes 10 times more phosphate and nitrate than
Eucalypt. Typical of many badly performing sewage works.
Grimshaw / Truong - May 2009 The Vetiver Network International 89
A hospital sewage farm on Lake Awassa
This sewage effluent is being discharged into the Lake. The effluent needs
further treatment, a Vetiver wetland would be a low cost and effective solution.
Vetiver Hedges
Ponds Flow
wetland
China
Vietnam
Grimshaw / Truong - May 2009 The Vetiver Network International 93
This vigorous growth is resulted from the effluent
high nutrient load
5 Day BOD (20 - 40 mg/l max) 130 to 300 mg/L 29 to 70 mg/L 7 to 11 mg/L
Suspended Solids (30 - 60 mg/l 200 to 500 mg/L 45 to 140 mg/l 11 to 16 mg/l
max)
Total Phosphorous (3.0 mg/l 10 to 20 mg/L 4.6 to 8.8 mg/L 1.4 to 3.3 mg/L
max)
- 8 rows of vetiver
10m long each
-vInter-row spacing
1m
Flow - Plant spacing 5/m
- Total plants 400
- Gravel trench 60cm
deep
- Land area 100 sqm
- Bund wall W54 X
H30cm
Good growth
Poor growth
Bund
Effluent
inlet
N=0.24mg/L N=0.17mg/L
P=0.068mg/L P=0.33mg/L
Monitoring
wells
N=0.10mg/L Bund
P=0.12mg/L
N=0.026mg/L
P=0.091mg/L
OUT FLOW
Poorer growth Average daily flow: Almost Nil*
Average total N: 0.13mg/L
Average total P: 0.152mg/L
Average Faecal Coliform: <10
Aceh, Indonesia
American Red Cross
built 2 ,000 units and
will build another
1,500 in 2009
PC: Vant Hoff
Sewage Disposal
Oberoi Resort Bali,
Indonesia
Leachate disposal
Wastes
Diagrammatic cross section of the mound
at Stotts Creek Landfill, Muwillumbah
Grimshaw / Truong - May 2009 The Vetiver Network International 111
Vetiver planted on the top of the mound Landfill Leachate
Disposal
Irrigated with
leachate after
planting each
day
Vetiver
Demonstration of each component should be carried out early so that participants can better
grasp the actions and the consequences.
Technical manuals and fact sheets should be developed and distributed to participants.
Presentations such as this one will be very helpful in persuading people to get involved.
Local governments should review policies, amend them to meet the introduced
technologies, and be prepared to enforce them.