Ist International Webinar on Vetiver Grass Technology 2021

 Central Bicol State University of Agriculture of the Philippines  https://cbsua.edu.ph/ is holding a webinar on Vetiver Grass Technology on September 28th 2021. Dick Grimshaw, Paul Truong and Robinson Vanoh of TVNI  will be participating. See attached program:

THE VETIVER LATRINE

THE VETIVER LATRINE from Roger Gietzen (see: http://www.healthy-mind-body.com/humanitarian/vetiver_latrine.html for details of vetiver latrine design and its construction)

"It's now been three years since I started installing vetiver latrines in Haiti.  For all those who helped me with that project, I want to thank you again.  You know who you are.  Here is an update on my progress: 

175 latrines have been installed in the two communities I serve.  They are providing sanitation where there was absolutely none.  The people are happy and likely healthier.  There was not a case of cholera this last year, whereas in the previous years there was always 1-2 during the rainy season. But these numbers are too small to draw conclusions from.

China Central Government Encourages to Control Rice Stem Borer with Vetiver.

The website of China Central Government issued the following statement by Mr. Xu Sunda, the Xinhua News Agency on 7 April 2019 in Hangzhou.

"The Zhejiang Provincial Plant Protection and Quarantine Station issued official document titled "Complete Green Protection Technology of rice Insect - rice striped stem borer - Chilo suppressalis." It provided farmers with Complete Green Protection Technology, including agricultural protection, ecological regulation, biological control, physical and chemical control.

It suggests that rice should be planted in large areas, instead of in small pieces of field with different rice vareities as Bridge Field, and it recommends farmers to plant vetiver grass along border roads and field bunds. The vetiver clumps should be planted spacing 3-5m in order to effectively attract female adults to lay eggs in vetiver plants to reduce their eggs in rice.

Rice striped stem borer (Chilo suppressalis Walker) is one of the most important insect pests of rice in China, and its damage commonly led to significant yield loss. The resistance to insecticides became higher and higher in recent years, because of long term and incorrect use of insecticides. The pest seems hardly to controlable by insecticides. In the area where single-harvested rice is intercropped with double-harvested rice (a year), the damage by stem borer is more serious, So farmers started to plant more one-harvested rice, which seriously influenced food security.

To solve this problem, the crop protection institutions paid attention to control rice stem borer comprehensively, through improving strategies of pest management and technology extension. They promote "Green Plant Protection" and have got outstanding results. According to statistics the injury degree of stem borer has reduced in Zhejiang Province in 2018. Compared with that in 2017, the injury rice area and the loss of rice yield caused by stem borer decreased by 14.98% and 15.61% respectively in 2018.

Since 2007, directed by Prof. Lv Zhongxian of Zhejiang Academy of Agriculture Sciences, systematic and comprehensive researches have been done on stem borer control by planting vetiver, which concerned almost all important aspects and received great achievements."

More details of the research is at: http://www.vetiver.org/CHN_JIA-2019%20Vetiver-Lu%20YH-.pdf

Use vetiver for cleaning up diesel and other oil contaminanted land

Agronomic and economic evaluation of Vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides L.) as means for phytoremediation of diesel polluted soils in Israel (2018) Nativ Dudai et al

ABSTRACT: Soil pollution in Israel, due to diesel contamination, is a major concern, with gas stations, factories and refineries being the main polluters (>60%). Vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides L.) is a perennial grass belonging to the Poaceae family, and is recognized world-wide for its potential as a plant with phytoremediation traits to contaminated soils. It is demonstrated here to decrease diesel contamination in field and court-yard trials. Chemical soil analysis indicated up to a 79% decrease (P < .05) in diesel pollution of contaminated soil planted with Vetiver; and at high soil contamination levels of 10 L/m2, a significant (P < .05) reduction of 96, 96 and 87% was recorded at soil depths of 0-20, 20-40 and 40-60 cm, respectively. Furthermore, in field plots contaminated with diesel and planted with Vetiver, weeds' biomass recovered to non-polluted levels following 8 to 9 months of Vetiver treatment. An economic evaluation conducted based on the cost-benefit analysis (CBA) principles, utilizing the Net Present Value (NPV) compared phytoremediation to other currently used decontamination procedures. The economic comparison showed that phytoremediation cleanup costs are lower and more beneficial to society at large, primarily from an ecosystem services perspective. Combining the results of the agronomic examination with the economic valuation, this research pointed out that phytoremediation with Vetiver has a non-negligible potential, making it a good solution for cleansing diesel from soils on a state-wide scale in Israel and worthy of further research and development.

Vetiver System - Vetiver Grass Technology Applications

Vetiver Grass is an absolute unique plant for many reasons, but its most impressive characteristics are that it can be grown successfully in virtually every country with a warm to hot climate, and for a large range of different applications covering a number of critical sectors relating to the environment.  Here is a list of these applications with links to some short photo presentations which helps put this plant into perspective.  Note "high resolution images are also available - click on button near bottom of table.

THE VETIVER_ SYSTEM -- OVERVIEW
VETIVER_ SYSTEM AND CLIMATE CHANGE
ABOUT VETIVER - THE PLANT	PROPAGATION & PLANTING
AGRICULTURAL USES	FORAGE AND BIOMASS
ON FARM SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION	LANDSCAPING
LAND REHABILITATION	MINE REHABILITATION
MINE REHABILITATION LARGE SCALE APPLICATIONS	COASTLINE STABILIZATION
BRIDGE PROTECTION	HIGHWAY STABILIZATION
PUBLIC UTILITY STABILIZATION	STEEP SLOPE STABILIZATION
RURAL ROAD STABILIZATION	RAILROAD STABILIZATION
UPLAND FLOOD CONTROL	LOWLAND DIKES & LEVEE STABILIZATION
RIVER BANK STABILIZATION	DAM STABILIZATION
LANDFILL TREATMENT	EFFLUENT DISPOSAL
HANDICRAFTS	OTHER USES
HIGH RESOLUTION FILES OF ABOVE APPLICATIONS
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Please share with others who might be interested.  Thank you

Effluent crisis in densely populated countries – one possible solution – Vetiver System

Vetiver constructed wetland still working
after 12 years

Each time I open up Google Earth and look at various locations in India I see densely populated rural and urban centers, and know that many of them have no formal waste disposal systems, and are unlikely to have such facilities in the foreseeable future. In the mean time the problem multiplies as the population continues to grow.  The options are: (1) do nothing - not acceptable (2) wait for government to do something - slow and huge funding constraints (3) look for solutions that may not be perfect but will at least move towards some mitigation of the problem, (4) find solutions that depend heavily on community involvement. and supporting voluntary organizations. The problems if not at crisis level now, will be a crisis in the foreseeable future - that means soon – it also means that options 3 and 4 have to be given serious consideration.

Watts Bridge Airfield, Queensland, Vetiver Waste Water treatment update

Watts Bridge constructed Vetiver wetland
Coordinates: -27.099224º  152.459996º

This constructed wetland has been operating since 2005 and is still working well. So well that effluent throughput could be doubled. Here is some comparative data from one of the test wells (#4) for years 2008 and (2017): pH:7 (6.5); P mg/l: 1.2 (0.25); Ammonium N: 0.13 (0.1); Nitrite N: 003 (0.022); Nitrate N: 0.097 (0.063), Nitrite + Nitrate N: 0.01 (0.041); Fecal coliform cfu/100ml: 10 (10). This system was installed by Paul Truong (Veticon). Note that out of the four test wells only well #4 had water in it. All the others were dry in 2017.  

This link takes you to an earlier presentation by Paul Truong including images and details: 

http://www.vetiver.org/AUS_WATTS%20BRIDGE_effluent.pdf

This  type of vetiver application is highly replicable, low cost and efficient

Here is an update analysis of sample taken August 28 2017:

Total Phosphorus as P mg/L 0.10

Ammonia N mg/L 0.064

Nitrite N mg/L 0.002

Nitrite+Nitrate as N mg/L 0.096

Nitrate N (Calc) mg/L 0.094

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Thermo tolerant Coliforms (MF) cfu/100mL

"The Father of Vetiver", John Greenfield died at his home in New Zealand on February 25 2017. John often reminded us that as agriculturists we had only 30 to 40 seasons to attempt to make significant change during our professional careers. He certainly succeeded in doing so, and today tens of thousands of people in the tropical world have benefited from his insights and actions on soil and moisture conservation and the application of the Vetiver System. He was a very practical hands on agronomist and conservationist whose work was always well based on science. He understood what he saw, and was able to create practical common sense solutions from those observations. We know him affectionately as "The Father of Vetiver" - and he is well known to many people through the simple hand book "Vetiver Grass - A Hedge Against Erosion" - a handbook that had to fit in the shirt pocket of a farmer! and one that has been translated into countless languages. 
I personally knew John since 1985 when he came to work with me in India. He became a good friend and colleague. We had many great times together in India, and after, from a distance promoting the Vetiver System around the globe. His was not a wasted life, but one of action, one that will continue to impact for a very, very, long time into the future on many thousands users of the Vetiver System in many different ways. John was always looking to help the world's small rainfed farmers. The best tribute to him would be for those people working with and advising this group of farmers, to make greater efforts to introduce the Vetiver System and the very unique plant that it is based on. Those who work with small farmers might like to read this: ALLEVIATING POVERTY IN THE THIRD WORLD -- THIS IS ALL IT TAKES!
Emerging from John's "Vetiver Grass Technology" based soil and water conservation focused work has been, in recent years, a series of bioengineering and phytoremediation applications that could have a profound impact on our environment at this time of climate change. 
Our thoughts are with Sandra (his long time partner) and his children.


Dick Grimshaw. February 25 2017

The Vetiver System supports Community Resilience at a time of uncertainty - Part 2 - Water

Figure 1: water oozing from spring line (PC- Anno Farms)

This is the second article about using the Vetiver System to help build community resilience in these uncertain times when many communities can expect little support from government or others to deal with increasing problems created by climate change, continuing poverty, and very limited financial resources. 

As noted in Part 1 most rural people in the tropics and semi arid areas are poor, and, even when out of poverty, most are unable to manage the environmental crises that currently, and in the future, will confront them. Most communities worry about being able to make a decent living from their small farms or businesses, they worry about the quality and availability of their water supply, they worry about potential disasters that may isolate them from neighboring communities and services, they worry about educating their children, and they see continuing and unabated health challenges often linked to environmental and social mismanagement.  These concerns are magnified because most communities lack access to low cost technologies that might help them overcome some of their problems. The Vetiver System (VS) is one of a number of technologies that can help them. VS is low cost, relatively simple to understand, safe, and over the past 30 years is well proven.

The Vetiver Grass Technology, (VGT) used for decades by farmers in south India as a tool for soil conservation, was reintroduced and "institutionalized" by John Greenfield of New Zealand whilst he was working for the World Bank in India in the 1980s.  At that time the objective was to establish VGT as a more appropriate erosion control technology than the traditional engineered contour bunds. Later VGT formed the basis of a number of other applications that collectively are known as the Vetiver System (VS), these will be reviewed in future posts to this blog.

This article discusses the application of VGT for sustained and improved water supplies that meet community needs. The availability of water and its quality has become of prime importance to sustaining human and animal life on our planet. This is of primary importance to many poor communities, both in urban and rural areas. A more reliable supply will reduce risks and costs, and for farmers assure crop and livestock benefits. VGT hedgerows as noted in part 1 will increase soil moisture and will enhance groundwater. Hedgerows reduce rainfall runoff by as much as 70%, and provide, by some estimates, 20% recharge of ground water.  Reduced runoff and recharge results in better down catchment flows, stronger spring flows, sustainable well water supplies, and fuller surface reservoirs. 

The Vetiver System and India - It takes a generation!

A recent quote from a senior official in West Bengal India:

"Soil erosion is one of the largest environmental issues facing the earth today; and the river banks region of India, with heavy rainfall, is particularly affected. Erosion devastates infrastructural activities- landslides, erosion by river and flood water take heavy toll of developed infrastructure. From an engineer’s perspective sustainable asset management has posed as a gargantuan task because of soil erosion. Traditional hard engineering is now found to be inconsistent with the three pillars of sustainability - economy, social and environmental. Hard engineering interventions to prevent erosion have been attempted over decades in the region, incurring large financial and environmental costs, and with limited success. This in combination with limited State budgets makes finding an alternative, low cost, environmentally sustainable solution imperative. One such method that shows considerable promise is Vetiver grass."

30 years ago (a generation ago) John Greenfield and I, when working for the World Bank in India, re-introduced the Vetiver Grass Technology (VGT) as an alternative to the engineering approach  - the latter did not work very well - too expensive, heavily subsidized, badly maintained, and mostly ineffective.  We were not very popular for promoting vetiver grass hedgerows as components of World Bank funded projects (Indian Watershed Projects in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh States) as an alternative and better technological and economic solution; questions were tabled in the Indian Parliament in New Delhi, some people even wanted to ban the technology!

Well, as you can see from the above quote, we have come a long way from those days, thanks to a new generation of professionals and the pressure created by climate change and social needs that demand alternative, effective and lower cost solutions.

he Vetiver System for Quality – Prevention and Treatment of Contaminated Water and Land

Coincident to the Climate Change meeting in Paris, TVNI has published the Second Edition of “The Vetiver System for Quality – Prevention and Treatment of Contaminated Water and Land” authored by Paul Truong of Australia and Luu Thai Danh of Vietnam.  The publication updates research and fields experience carried out by various scientists and users around the world showing the importance and success of the Vetiver System for dealing with polluted water and land.  The results and methods applied demonstrates the uniqueness of Vetiver grass as a plant that has special characteristics in its stand alone mode, as well as its interesting symbiotic relationship with other organisms associated with its rhizosphere that enable Vetiver to remove toxic chemicals from both soil and water.  A plant that is so well behaved, that can clean up polluted water and land contaminated by heavy metals and other toxic chemicals, and that can function efficiently over a huge range of soil, water, and climatic conditions, is truly incredible.  This publication is a testament to many contributors to the development of the Vetiver System, especially to Paul Truong who has dedicated a good part of his life to the development of  “Vetiver Phytoremediation Technology”.  Hard copy of this book (containing nearly one hundred photos, figures, and tables) is available in early December from amazon.com, and can be viewed on TVNI’s website: http://www.vetiver.org/TVN_Water_quality%202%20ed.pdf
Dick Grimshaw

VETIVER SYSTEM - BUILDING COMMUNITY RESILIENCE - Managing Polluted Water

Some of the 100 volunteers

A major TVNI objective is to give, through VS, the ability for communities to build resilience to climate change and associated problems created by unregulated third party activities - as in this case the disposal of toxic organic chemicals that pollute community drinking water sources.  There is always a high tech solution available, but most of the time the latter are too costly and out of reach of the majority of communities.  In an earlier blog I wrote about VS latrines that are providing relief to rural folks in Haiti and the positive social health related benefits. This blog focuses on the potential application of VS to clean up illegally dumped phenols that have polluted community groundwater sources in Thailand and are of great health concern.  

Vetiver System - A Solution for Urban Waste Water Treatment

In most cities, towns, and villages in developing countries there is no connection to a public sewage/waste water treatment.  Where there is a connection the effluent is often discharged without treatment to near by rivers. Where there is no sewage system some properties may have septic tanks, and the majority of these leak and mis-function.  The result is that water tables, water bodies, and the local environment are polluted with consequential increases in foul smelling air, undrinkable water, and increased water borne diseases.  One such an example, described in a World Bank report on Indonesia describes the city of Palembang, South Sumatra, with a population of over a million having no direct sewage connections, and 70% of the households having septic tanks, of which 30% mis-function.

Correcting this situation with conventional costly technologies for Palembang, and tens of thousands of other urban centers in the tropics will be prohibitive and will take decades. It is essential to start installing low cost, flexible, and sustainable remedies, that might not be perfect, but are able to reduce the problems significantly.

An Effective, Simple and Low Cost Method of Treating Contaminated Water to Control Diseases Using Vetiver Phytoremediation Technology

There are many occasions when we see, particularly in poorer countries, the impact on health due to untreated waste water, especially that associated with homes, schools, clinics, businesses, and temporary housing and facilities linked to refugee camps.  Vetiver Phytoremediation Technology (VPT), originally developed by Paul Truong, can do much to solve these problems at low cost.  Below is a slide show of a some successful case studies. This slide show can be downloaded as a pdf file

Recycling contaminated water for irrigation use using Vetiver Phytoremediation Technology (VPT)

Sandra Ugalde of the University of Tarapaca is the leader for this project.  The project's objective is, using Vetiver Phytoremediation Technology, to clean contaminated water for use in irrigation and to increase productivity in Arica and Parinacota Regions of Chile. Funding is provided by the Foundation for Agriculture Innovation ( FIA) and the Ministry of Agriculture. Details are at English  Spanish.  It will be interesting to follow this trial.  Dick Grimshaw
 

Treating industrial waste water with Vetiver System

Here is a nice example from Paul Truong of how vetiver can be used for industrial or agricultural waste water treatment using floating pontoons (best design yet) and by planting on the banks of the lagoons. There is great potential to apply the Vetiver System for waste water treatment not only on industrial scale but also for smaller treatment needs such as single households, small hospitals, hotels, schools, refugee camps, etc. using the alternative "wetland vetiver application".

Dick Grimshaw

1ST PHILIPPINE CONFERENCE ON VETIVER, MARCH 5-7, 2014 AT THE GRAND BALLROOM OF THE INTERCONTINENTAL MANILA. -- THE VETIVER SYSTEM AND ITS MANY ENVIRONMENTAL APPLICATIONS

International experts from The Vetiver Network International (TVNI) led by Dr. Paul Truong,  together with local end-users will share their knowledge on  the economic value and numerous applications of the Vetiver System that are responsive to environmental mitigation needs over a broad range of ecological conditions during the 1st Philippine Conference on Vetiver, March 5-7, 2014 at the Grand Ballroom of the Intercontinental Manila. Read More

(Brochure and registration details)

New Small Scale Waste Water Treatment Model using Vetiver System

Paul and Nicholas Truong of Veticon, Australia have come up with a relatively simple and fully tested model for calculating the number of vetiver plants required for treating waste water and sewage effluent. The model will be particularly useful for individual domestic waste water treatment and small scale community needs. The model was initially designed for small Colombian farmers who need to treat the effluent from their coffee processing plants.  The paper http://www.vetiver.org/LAICV2F/2%20Environmental%20Protection/E1Truong_TE.pdf describing the model, and the presentation  http://www.vetiver.org/LAICV2F/2%20Environmental%20Protection/E1Truong_PpE.pdf that goes with it also contains images of various layouts that might be used.  For further background on waste water management using the Vetiver System see this paper http://www.vetiver.org/LAICV2F/0%20Plenary/P3Truong_TE.pdf and presentation http://www.vetiver.org/LAICV2F/0%20Plenary/P3Truong_PpE.pdf.  Thank you Paul and Nick!!  This work of the Truong's should be widely shared, and should be particularly useful to communities throughout the tropics or where vetiver can be grown.

Dick Grimshaw

AUSTRALIA: Vetiver System for treating waste water from sewage facilities and effluent from landfills

If you haven't yet used vetiver for treating contaminated water this may help to convince you.  Paul Truong has kindly shared some new (2013) photos of vetiver being used for treating 350-500 KL/day of waste water at a sewage plant at Boonah on 3.5 ha of vetiver; and 100 KL/day of effluent at Stotts Creek Landfill on 8 ha of vetiver.  The former was established in 2011 and the latter in 2003.  Both continue to function as designed.  You can find earlier descriptions of these two vetiver projects at http://www.vetiver.org/AUS_boonah%20waste..pdf and http://www.vetiver.org/discus/messages/7/2-08_Tweed_Leachate-678.pdf
Dick Grimshaw

Students in Brazil treat waste water using VS

This is the way to go!! Get  the schools involved - see following report from Bruna Lage in Brazil

"A group of environmental engineering students with support from the state school, Herbert de Souza, developed a project that may help treat sewage. The technology that treats the waste water before disposal to a sewage pond, should ease situations where the 4000 residents of Santana do Paraiso have no access to formal sewage treatment plants. Currently all the sewage from the neighborhood is discharged into an untreated pond. 

Luiz Claudio da Silva Costa, a student of environmental engineering, developed the project with three other people, from a partnership between school and students. The students decided to propose a solution for the neighborhood and the school in terms of environmental education. Luiz explains that studies on the environmental and social issues are relevant to the project, and noted that the school had good slope and sufficient area available. We used sand, gravel and pipe, and vetiver grass. The cost of implementing the project was about $750. Luiz explained that the grass is used normally for slopes tabilization, however, but is also used for sewage treatment in other countries such as China and Thailand. We verified its efficiency of wastewater treatment and saw that it has features to adapt to any type of soil,

   

The sewage from a school bathroom is directed to a masonry box 40 x 40 cm, which basically functions as a primary treatment, for the retention of coarse solids such as paper and hair. It then passes through layers of sand and gravel and in the background, has a perforated pipe that collects all the treated sewage, which falls on a slope and in the school drop box that is connected to the collector of the district. "This will have wastewater treated, coming to have 69.2% result, proven in the analysis. We started the project about a month ago and we can already observe its efficiency" said Luiz.

According to the school principal, Santana do Paraiso is an unusual city because it has pockets of high and low density. The sewage treatment in the traditional manner would be inconsistent with the city. "We were approached with the proposal to develop a sewage treatment pilot here at school and found it interesting in view the need, and also because the school and its students would spread the knowledge," he said.  The school is providing the land, according to the director, and is contributing to local society with a new treatment alternative. Students participate in monitoring the system and the process, which becomes an environmental education program. "We have children involved from the beginning, ((elementary school through the 3rd year of high school. They also contribute using the bathroom that contributes to the waste water!  The intent of the project, explains Luiz, is trying to help cities that do not have treatment. "We intend to publish the article and spread the idea, leading to rural communities and contributing to the environment," he said. About the durability of the season, the student explains that a maintenance center well done and well monitored, can last about 20 years without maintenance and with the same efficiency".

From Reporter: Bruna Lage