Capillaries pull water into a plant's root system. Evaporation from leaves creates suction to pull water through the rest of the plant or tree (transpiration).
So, 3D printed roots could be designed to extract individual molecules. The root could be thrown away and replaced or cleaned.
It might operate as a sponge.
There are two issues:
1. the design of the roots is intellectual property and the designer should be compensated.
2. how much of each molecule can be pulled before causing damage to the environment?
A patent does solve this, but would require publicity worldwide.
Government can then set policy on how much can be extracted. This type of technology requires responsibility and planning worldwide.
