How BioHaven’s Work
BioHavens perform five functions:
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remove pollutants from a waterway, including nitrates, phosphates, ammonia and heavy metals
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provide critical riparian edge habitat – in fact, new land mass for use by all kinds of creatures, from microbes to humans
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sequester carbon and other greenhouse gases
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provide wave mitigation and erosion control
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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.
