Using science to clean up a wetland | Marino Morikawa | TEDxTukuy

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/ted

Marino Morikawa revived and recovered El Cascajo wetlands. Polluted by neglect, livestock and waste pipes, the wetlands had changed beyond recognition from when Marino Morikawa used to visit as a child. When he heard about the dire situation of El Cascajo, Morikawa left Japan and went back to Peru to start a clean-up campaign using biofilters and nano bubbles. Today, he continues working to save other natural habitats such as rivers and lakes.

You'll be wondering,
"Why is this madman dressed like this?"

Am I right?

No, I wasn't running late
and grabbed the first clothes I saw.

No!

This outfit is going to play

a significant role
in reviving natural habitats.

This outfit is going to give
nature back its color.

But when we speak about
the color of nature,

we do so with great feeling,

feelings of joy, peace, happiness!

But we can also interpret it with

sadness, melancholy, disappointment.

This last case is what I experienced.

I'm going to talk about an area of
natural habitat called El Cascajo wetland.

El Cascajo is 1.5 hours north of Lima.

I spent some of the greatest
moments of my childhood there.

The family memories and amazing
adventures with my father.

But for some reason,
we stopped going there.

And time went on,

and I headed to Japan

to start my post-graduate studies,
my master's, my PhD.

I'm currently working as a researcher
and lecturer in science at the university.

And when I was there, in Japan,

I got a strange call from my father,

"Do you remember El Cascajo"? he asked.

"Of course I do," I say.

"You won't believe it,
but they're filling it in."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"It's so polluted it's completed ruined."

I was left wondering
about this for some time.

And then, having
some holiday, I went to Peru.

And I say to my father,
"Dad, take me to El Casajo."

"OK."

And I was faced with this surprise:
the wetlands were green.

It was completely covered
by aquatic plants, algae.

And I asked my father,
"Are you sure this is El Cascajo"?

"Yes."

"Come on, no way!" I say.

"This is El Cascajo, and we're losing it,
or we already have," he says.

I was quite upset.

When I got to the edge
of the water, I got on my knees,

and I apologized for not having
taken care of the habitat.

I gathered up the water plants,
and I was faced with another surprise.

The water was brown, stinking,
and full of floating objects.

Just don't ask me what those objects were!

(Laughter)

And I said to myself,
"Well, I didn't study for nothing, did I?"

Am I right?

So, let's do something!

I asked so many people
for help but was refused.

They said, "But why? What's in it for us?"

"Well, never mind."

So, let's do something more simple.

Let's do this. Take the first step.

But how?

OK, I went back to Japan.

I went to the bank
and withdrew all my savings.

I went to other banks and took out loans.

And I went back to Peru.

But, since this project was about
reviving natural habitats,

before doing anything, we had
to monitor and observe the area.

While this was going on,

let me share with you a small anecdote.

When I returned to the wetlands,
which were obviously green.

But, I could also see some floating noses.

"Hippopotamus!" I cried out.

But no, they belonged
to the pigs swimming there.

(Laughter)

There were farms surrounding
the outside of the wetlands.

There was also
an illegal rubbish dump there

for more than 20 years!

But the saddest thing
is that the birds,

- many of them scavenger carrion birds -

were feeding directly from there.

Another thing is that local drains
emptied directly into the wetlands,

and many of them directly into the sea!

And what did this cause?

The proliferation of invasive species

like 'Pistia stratiotes' or water lettuce.

And as a result, the surrounding
land was contaminated.

OK?, So, first of all, we had

to get rid of the outer waste.

So, these water lettuces.

But how?

I designed a system
to divide up the wetlands,

to divide it into 8 parts.

From A1 to A2, and D1 to D2.

But why?

To have an organized
and controlled cleaning system

for achieving something
that resembles a body of water.

I started with sections A1 and A2.

But how to separate the zones?

Using the materials around us.

We used Guadua angustifolia or bamboo.

And we got into the water
to put these natural barriers in place.

Once again I said, "OK let's start!"

"But who's getting in the water
to get rid of the lettuces?!"

And as a gentleman, it had to be me.

(Laughter)

But I had a plan in mind.

I got in the water everyday
for a week from 7am until 8pm,

just removing the water lettuces.

But whilst I was doing this,

I could see how many people
passed by everyday.

Between 70 and 100 people everyday.

These people passed me by
and did a double-take!

And they said, "Hey, you're crazy."
"You'll get ill, my son did."

And engaging them in
conversation was exactly my idea.

I got out of the water and I explained,

"No, its real color is not
the one you're seeing now."

"The true color
of the wetlands is fabulous!"

I told them about how it used to be,
how it can be enjoyed once again,

and how a natural habitat like this
should be sustainable.

And something happened.

We removed the Pistia stratiotes by hand.

Starting with section A1.

You see this small boat, or 'punt'
as they sometimes call it?

Those lettuces weighed around 150 kilos.

And we carried on cleaning,

and slowly, the group got bigger.

One day, I got up late
and arrived at the wetlands at 8am.

And I was faced with this surprise:

more than 100 people were
working on the wetlands!

They shouted out, "We're with you,
let's save El Cascajo!"

I felt like a politician
greeting everyone there.

(Laughter)

It was a moment of immense joy,

seeing these people, unprotected,
in the water dredging up lettuces.

"We're going to save El Cascajo."

"Yes, together we will."

Well then, great!

We ended up removing 70 tons
of water lettuces from A1 alone.

But what did we do with them?

Compost, organic fertilizer.

And why? For use on dry and barren areas
to make them green and fertile.

And we had great results,

- thanks to a local government program -

which, I should mention,
helped us from the start.

And so, we went on
to clean up A2 and then B1 etc,

And now for the next step:
a water treatment system.

How did we do this?

We used nanotechnology.

Within the field of nanotechnology
there are two systems we could implement.

One is micro-nano bubbles,
the other biofilters.

What are micro-nano bubbles?

I'll explain.

OK, imagine the bubbles from fizzy drinks.

Nano bubbles are 10,000 times smaller.

So, very hard to see
with these tiny eyes of mine.

(Laughter)

The difference is that bubbles
from fizzy drinks disappear very quickly.

Whereas nano bubbles
remain in the liquid for 5-8 hours.

But why for so long?

They are active in the liquid.

Nano bubbles are surrounded
by positive and negative ions.

In other words, they have
a high concentration of energy,

or what is known
as an electrostatic charge.

I'm sure you used to play with
the plastic covers of books,

rubbing your hair with it
and it stands on end?

This is the same! The same!

So, what's going to happen?

The nano bubble
will become coated with particles.

For example with viruses.

Viruses move towards
the electrostatic current,

and get stuck to the bubbles.

But what happens then?

When the bubble pops,
it'll release all those ions,

and it will generate free radicals.

In other words, we have
created a type of mini-bomb

that destroys and kills bacteria.

How did we install it?

Again, with the materials around us.

As you can see here,

a water pump, an oxygen pump,

a generator, and a PVC pipe.

You can see here, it looks
as if it's being cleaned with a detergent.

The micro-nano bubbles are up and running.

Graphically, it looks like this.

There is the PVC pipe.

But how do you generate nano bubbles?

By using the interaction
between air and water,

and a device which I designed in the lab
at the University of Tsukuba, Japan.

The device transformed the interactions

occurring at the interface
of the nano bubbles.

And, little by little, the pollutants
in the wetland were eliminated.

After installing the nano bubbles,
we moved on to biofilters.

Filters, as we all know, act to absorb.

But why?
To reduce the pool of contaminants.

but we add the word 'bio';
because it's in fashion.

And that's how we did it.

We again used the materials around us.

I used clay and ceramic to build
the biofilters in a natural way.

Like before, the filters acted
to absorb bacteria and viruses,

or other contaminants
- organic or inorganic compounds.

Everything was absorbed
and passed through this biofilter.

And they are still in the water today.

But they can be reused
when they no longer work.

What did I do with them?

I ground them up and turned them
into ceramic floor tiles.

Do you remember the color
of the water at the beginning?

OK, well it soon turned
into this. Fantastic.

(Applause)

Thank you! But hold your horses!
Don't get excited yet!

OK? Now for the surprise.

Soon after, migratory birds appeared.

More than 77 species!

It was amazing! And do you know what?

Something unusual happened
to me in January 2013.

I was in the lab at the university,

glued to my experiments, geeky as I am ...

(Laughter)

And I get another phone call

- not from my father,
but from someone else -

who says, "Hey, you remember
that the wetlands were green?"

"Yes," I reply.
"Well, the water's now clear."

"Oh, good God,
they put in a load of bleach," I said.

But no ladies and gentlemen.
This happened.

Yes, the wetlands did become clear,
and became full of migratory birds.

They're birds not bats by the way!

(Laughter)

I was a bit stressed at that time
- what with my debts with the banks -

(Laughter)

but seeing the beautiful sight
of those birds,

the first thing I thought, well felt,
was that they were like my children.

(Laughter)

But do you know
what the greatest thing was?

I looked up at the birds,
and all the debt just disappeared.

and I said to them, "Thank you,
all that stress has gone."

El Cascajo wetlands,
you'll remember, were green.

When I had finished it looked like this.
Now for the applause please.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

But to maintain the area we needed a team.

The first to join were children.

Before their mums wouldn't let them near
the water as they'd come out all mangy,

but now the children play there.

They're playing
and throwing stones at the animals,

and I shout, "Stop throwing stones!"

(Laughter)

But seeing these children I said,
"I have returned to my childhood."

It's really something special.

El Cascajo wetlands now has a big family.

It's called Cascajo Team.

And anyone can join this family.

But, to maintain the water,
we have clean-up campaigns,

with more than 150 volunteers
from all over Peru.

We're starting a clean-up
tomorrow if you're interested.

(Laughter)

But first and foremost do you know what?

Someone very special to me said,

"Why don't you do this all over Peru?"

(Laughter)

She's the culprit. My sister Marian.

She said to me,
"It'd be great wouldn't it?"

Well, yes. Let's do this! And so,
I'm going back to Peru next year.

I'm starting with Lake Titicaca,
the Chira river, and the Paca lagoon.

And I hope to cover
many more natural habitats.

There's already a waiting list.

(Laughter) (Applause)

She shared some words with me
which I'd like to share with you,

and I'd like you to share them, too.

"May the colors of the heart
of the natural world reach

the hearts of mankind."

Thank you very much.

(Applause)