Bamboo! It never ceases to amaze me.

I've been doing some research about natural building materials for a competition I'm entering: CODesign 2011.

I've read about how great bamboo is before.  How fast it grows, how strong it is, how environmentally friendly it is. I've seen it used for many different things, from scaffolding, to roofing, to plywood, to furniture, to textiles (yes, I have bamboo socks).  But what I learned the other day is that it has been used for centuries in China to purify water!  Oh come on, you can't be serious.  Apparently it's true.  And not only does it get rid of the contaminants, it add minerals and makes it healthier to drink!
Not pure bamboo, but bamboo charcoal.  It can be produced in a couple of ways, either from whole pieces of bamboo, including the culm, branch, or the root, or from using waste material from processed bamboo that is compressed into briquettes.  The charcoal has a high absorption rate and it can apparently be used to purify the water found in rivers and lakes and sewage!  And if that wasn't enough, apparently the charcoal pieces can be exposed to UV light, and reused!