Manmade wetland 'treats tobacco plant wastewater'

An experiment is being conducted in the US to determine how successful a manmade wetland is at cleaning wastewater from a nearby tobacco plant.

Around 50 acres of land have been allocated to the project, which cost $7 million (£4.8 million) and saw the introducing of 150,000 plants into the area to help clean the water.

Since then, animals and insects have been attracted to the land, which in turn naturally purifies wastewater discharged from a factory owned by tobacco product manufacturers Philip Morris.

Ty Murray, director of environmental compliance for Altria Group, which is a parent company of Philip Morris, stated: "It is kind of neat - this whole cycle that happens. One group moves in, it creates food for another group. They come in and devour, and the whole system just keeps repeating itself."

In related news, treated wastewater ready for consumption in the south of New York contains high levels of phosphates, due to the inclusion of the chemical in many cleaning products, it was claimed this week.