Journal of Agriculture
and Environmental Sciences

Water Quality: Improving Water Quality Utilizing Hemp
Michael D. McDermott, William D. Strait

Abstract
Fresh water available for consumption is being contaminated by numerous sources. The world’s population and demand for healthy drinking water is rising as well. Current water filtration methods are appropriate by today’s standards but what about the future? This study looks at an alternative water filtering media which can be agriculturally grown and be a bio-based filter. The utilization of hemp as a water filter was tested against the standard of current filtration systems of activated charcoal and coconut husks. Filtration cubes built on a 1/10th scale of filters currently being used by a municipality were utilized to filter 7 different surface water samples. Pre and post filtration tests determined the E-coli level and the turbidity of the water samples at both stages. The results showed tremendous promise for the ability of hemp to filter out water contaminants.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jaes.v6n2a2