The Prickly Pear Cactus contains special properties that allow the plant to naturally filter out certain water contaminants.
Dr. Alcantar explains, “We found there is an attraction between the mucilage of cactus and arsenic…The mucilage also attracts sediments, bacteria and other contaminants. It captures these substances and forms a large mass or ‘floc’ that sort of looks like cotton candy. For sediments, the flocs are large and heavy, which precipitate rapidly after the interaction with mucilage.”3
This method has been utilized before. According to Dr. Alcantar, “Latin American communities once used the cactus (Opuntia ficus indica) to filter water…But this is ‘knowledge that is almost gone’ in Mexican homes.”
By studying how this process works in the cactus, scientists may be able to identify the exact mechanisms and apply them to a potentially large-scale water treatment solution.
Based on the results of studies that Dr. Alcantar’s team completed, “boiling a slice of cactus and then adding it to unclean water would provide the cheapest and simplest means of cleaning water in places where other technologies are unavailable or unaffordable.” Furthermore, because these cacti can mostly be found locally in some areas affected by contaminated water (arid and semi-arid regions), the implementation of wide-scale use of the plant’s natural capabilities may prove to “contribute to advancing the goal of sustainable water treatment technologies that are themselves sustainable.”
Read the full article: https://savethewater.org/cactus-guts-clean-water/