Biohaven Floating Islands
BioHavens do five things:
- remove pollutants from a waterway, including nitrates, phosphates, ammonia and heavy metals
- provide critical riparian edge habitat - in fact, new land mass for use by all kinds of creatures, from microbes to humans
- sequester carbon and other greenhouse gases
- provide wave mitigation and erosion control
- beautify a waterscape.
Made from layers of recycled plastic “matrix” which are bonded together with adhesive foam, BioHavens are planted with sod, garden plants or wetland plants and launched onto a water body. There the plants are allowed to grow naturally, and, as they develop, their roots grow through the matrix and into the water below. Over time, a natural eco-system evolves. The model for this is Nature herself - the key is balance. BioHavens “bio-mimic” Nature. BioHavens are effectively a concentrated floating wetland - the huge surface area of fibers provides many times more surface area than an equivalent stretch of bare wetland. Surface area is the key factor for microbial activity to take place, and microbes (bacteria) are the key to removing contaminants from the water. Plants and their roots are also important, but more for the extra surface area the roots provide than for any nutrient uptake the plants themselves account for. BioHavens were invented seven years ago, have been successfully trialed for five years and have been on the market since July 2005. They represent a natural, convenient and cost-effective solution for some of the most intractable and expensive problems on the planet:
- “Polishing” wastewater and stormwater of nutrients and heavy metals to return it safely to the watershed
- Sequestering carbon dioxide and methane from effluent ponds to reduce global warming
- Wave mitigation and protection of levees in the event of severe storms
- Extraction of salt
- Mining nutrient loads from any waterway and reducing algal blooms
- Restoring wetlands without the need for new land
- Restoring habitat for endangered species such as the trumpeter swan.
They can be made in any shape and size and offer some fun uses to balance the more serious side:
- Creating walkways, piers, docks, jetties
- Providing support for recreational uses, such as picnic tables, floating stages, gazebos….
- Floating vegetable gardens which never need watering!
- Restoring a natural look and balance to any waterway of any size
- New land mass for human habitation.
- Not only are they natural, aesthetic and functional, they are cost-effective, “green” and virtually maintenance free.
Floating Island Fact Sheet
Contact Patriot LWM today to find out more information or to give your habitat a jump start with the New BioHaven Floating Islands.