Floating Treatment Wetlands: Keeping our fresh water clean and healthy
Freshwater lakes around the world are in trouble.
Urbanization, waste treatment, landscape changes, agriculture and natural resource extraction cause runoff of nutrients, contaminants, petroleum products and organic materials into freshwater lakes around the world.
Floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) or islands are small artificial platforms that allow aquatic plants to grow in water that is typically too deep for them. The unique ecosystem that develops creates the potential to capture nutrients and transform common pollutants that would otherwise plague and harm our lakes into harmless by-products.
This brochure explains how, where and why FTWs can be used to keep freshwater bodies clean.
Participating experts
You might also be interested in
COMMENTARY: Can we afford to continue removing wetlands from New Brunswick?
Industrial parks and wetlands; can we have both? Moncton Industrial Development Ltd. filed an environmental impact assessment in December to build an industrial park covering about 259 acres between Berry Mills Road and the CN rail yard. The site is currently a primarily tree-covered lot which includes wetlands and watercourses.
What’s Up With Water – April 4, 2023
Canadian leaders are moving to direct more resources toward protecting and managing the nation’s water. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took the first step, pledging to spend $420 million Canadian dollars a year over the next decade to improve water quality in the Great Lakes. That equals about $306 million US dollars. The March 24 announcement followed a meeting in Ottawa with President Joe Biden. Members of Congress from Great Lakes states had asked the president to discuss Great Lakes water funding during the meeting.
L’Okanagan Basin Water Board appuie la nouvelle agence nationale de l’eau (in French)
Un changement majeur dans la politique de gestion de l’eau au niveau national est accueilli avec un optimisme prudent par les responsables de la gestion de l’eau. L’inauguration de la nouvelle Agence canadienne de l’eau (ACE), dont le siège social sera à Winnipeg, a été révélée lors de la publication du budget fédéral la semaine dernière. Le budget 2023-2024 propose de fournir 85,1 millions de dollars sur cinq ans, avec 21 millions de dollars par la suite pour soutenir la création de l’agence.
Long-term cyanobacterial dynamics from lake sediment DNA in relation to experimental eutrophication, acidification and climate change
Cyanobacterial blooms in aquatic environments have impacted ecosystem health, altered food webs and contributed to substantial regional economic losses. The relative impacts of climate change, eutrophication and other environmental stressors on the formation of cyanobacterial blooms remain unclear as a consequence of the lack of long-term data. The analysis of lake sediment archives can help address such questions.