Floating island gardens made of plastic bottles treat water naturally

Floating islands are catching on, not just for public parks and ponds but for private citizens as well; the islands can be used as pool cleaners, putting greens and habitats for fish and waterfowl.

Grundfos Pumps Corp., a pump manufacturer in Fresno, launched three floating islands into the company’s pond, one of which will have a Grundfos solar-powered pump mounted on it. To do so, the company teamed up with Floating Islands West, LLC, a West Coast-based manufacturer and distributor of floating islands.

The plant material on the islands will eat up the pond’s excess nutrients, said Grundfos facilities manager Greg Gorby. This will negate algae buildup and provide cleaner pond water, while the pump aerates the pond to prevent water stagnation, he said.

Mounting the pump on the island minimizes any damage that could happen if it sank to the pond’s bottom and keeps maintenance easy through a circular trapdoor on the island, he said.

The project had been in discussion for six to eight months, Gorby said. While Grundfos is not in the pond business, this project meant learning about the needs of ponds and how to avoid using harsh chemicals in regulating one.

The islands need little to no maintenance, with filtration improving as the island’s root system takes hold, said Floating Islands West marketing director Edward Correa. The roots grow through the island, entering the water and drawing nutrients from it.

This process can also be used to dispose of unwanted or toxic materials in the water such as arsenic, he said. The plants will draw it up along with the water and store it in the foliage, which can then be pruned to remove the toxins.

The concept of a floating island was based on natural floating islands in wetlands, he said. Even in the Valley, peat bogs break away from the bank to be seeded by birds.

While the concept is not new, the material used in the company’s floating island is. The island is made out of marine foam for buoyancy and recycled plastic bottles — for every square foot, about 12 1/2 water bottles were kept out of the landfill, Correa said. The islands Grundfos launched were made of three pieces, each 5 feet by 20 feet. About 7,500 water bottles were used to construct the three islands.

Floating Islands West’s largest island sold is an acre in Sheepy Lake on the California-Oregon border, done for the Army Corps of Engineers, he said. More than 8,000 of its larger islands have launched worldwide, with thousands of smaller island gardens sold as well.

Island gardens come in sizes of 5 square feet to 25 square feet, meant for small backyard ponds or natural swimming pools in place of chemical treatment, he said. About 10 island gardens are shipped per week. They cost about $32 per square foot.

The islands are variable not just in size but in buoyancy. It is possible to design it to handle enough weight for a person to drive or live on one, he said. The islands work in freshwater and saltwater.

In times of drought, water quality is more difficult to maintain, so it’s important to have natural ways of improving it, he said.

“We’re happy to be a part of the solution for reducing the stress that our bodies of water are dealing with in this modern age,” Correa said.

More about floating islands is at http://floatingislandswest.com.

This story was originally published June 15, 2015 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Floating island gardens made of plastic bottles treat water naturally."