Water filtration and waterfall beautification @ BaanDoi Foundation, Mae Sai - Thailand

While volunteering to build an amazing kid's house in adobe bricks with expert Alby Marcos of Whispering Earth @ BaanDoi Foundation, and learning a lot in the process, it became clear I had to be back to get things done in my field: landscaping!

The existing fish pond's water was getting way too dirty to swim in anymore, and we were not sure how long the fish could survive in it, clearly time for action!

The plan was simple and didn't need to be much detailed before jumping into execution:
. clean the water filter and train Ing, BaanDoi's older Kid, for basic pond maintenance
. install extra plants for natural filtration in the pond
. beautify the waterfall in the process
. fix as many leaks as possible...

As everyone was still busy working on the house roof, I mostly worked alone, with Ing giving me precious help a few hours here and there, and it was a pleasure to work physically and carry out the plan, step by steps. We kept the budget to a strict minimum, and chose to recycle as much as possible all available material laying around: rocks, logs, plants...

BEFORE - front view

AFTER - front view

BEFORE - side view

AFTER - side view

Ing in action

P' Sak provided us with water Hyacinths for filtration in the pond

HyperTufa plant holders

 For water filtration and beautification, I decided to recreate as close to a wild ecosystem as possible, therefore multiplying nooks and crannies, creating as many niches of all sizes to hold plants and optimize hedge effect. To do that, I used a modified version of HyperTufa using coconut choir in lieu of vermiculite and sphagnum. This could be a world's first, most likely is a first in Thailand!

I look forward to going back an inspecting evolution of this waterfall, which I hope should develop in time to shelter a diversity of plant and animal species...


*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#


Update July 2017

The waterfall works beautifully, the ecosystem is settling itself nicely...