The Living Machine

So, I have a strange fascination with sewerage treatment plants. Beyond the social stigmas, sewerage carries a lot of valuable water, nutrients and energy that many places discard and often use heavy chemicals to do that. The "Living Machine" that handles all of Findhorn's sewerage was quite something to see.

The Living Machine is basically a series of tanks that the sewerage water passes through, being cleaned up by plants and crittters along the way. It starts off with reeds that do some of the heavy lifting and the levels of plant diversity and number of living organisms increases down the row until finally fish can be found in the last tank and the water is purified to irrigation quality.

Inspired by nature, the Living Machine highlights the critical role that complex living systems have to play in providing essential services such as waste purification and nutrient recycling.

Our guide through the Living Machine had a real enthusiasm for the life inside the greenhouse.

By the fourth tank, the water is already teaming with life.

It was really great to see such a beautiful space for something we are so conditioned not to talk about. The Living Machine also highlighted some of the deeper tensions I felt whilst visiting Findhorn. The project is expensive to run and maintain and due to cost limitations, the water flows into the neighbouring dunes rather than being reused onsite. They dont really have water shortages in the area, but neither the embodied energy nor nutrients are being captured either. It certainly is pretty and lovely to see ecology in action, but there are ways of promoting both that also think about the reality of flows of resources and financial viability. A lovely place to spend some time though.