[papercreters] Re: using lake water

Lake water should be effective in making papercrete.

I offer the following cautions and suggestions. It's mostly common sense concepts, but worth spending some extra time considering.

1. Take particular care of your papercrete runoff water. Don't contaminate the lake, or any other nearby natural water source. This should be a standard concern for anyone making papercrete anywhere. While standard papercrete runoff water is not particularly toxic, if it were allowed to runoff directly into a natural body of water it could easily overwhelm the natural balance and cause any number of potential problems. Just use good common sense. Pump the water you need to use up into a holding tank and do your mixing operations away from the lake. Pour and drain your papercrete in an area where the runoff will not flow into the lake.

2. Lake water may not be ideal for presoaking cardboard, glossy magazine paper, etc for extended periods of time. Since Lake (or even pond) water has a whole ecosystem of bacteria and microorganisms just waiting to help organic materials (such as paper) decompose, you'll create a big smelly mess a lot more quickly than when using city water or well water. An overnight soak of materials in lake water is probably about the max soaking time you can hope for without encountering big problems. YMMV

3. Mold. Beware of the mold. You may need at least a sand filter, and perhaps some kind of chemical water treatment to prevent mold. You may need to experiment with bleach or swimming pool chemical treatments to prevent your papercrete from molding as it dries. It all depends on what might be already growing in the lake, and what papercrete recipe you will be using. The only way to know how your papercrete will react to your lake water is to mix up some small batches and try it to make a few blocks. If you notice mold problems, you will need to consider altering what you are doing, either altering your recipe or filtering/treating your lake water before mixing the papercrete. Again, be careful that you don't allow your water treatment process to contaminate the lake. (or pond or stream or river if someone else is considering such a water source.)


All in all, using the water that is easily obtained near your construction site makes sense. I highly recommend using what is available to you as close to your construction site as possible. Just think through your work processes carefully and be smart about it.

--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "rccenterprises" wrote:
>
> I live near a lake. What are any ideas, pros and cons, of using lake water while mixing papercrete?
>




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