✅ We've now completed the first cycle of growing plants in our controlled floating wetlands environment !
✅ The plants (Carex) were placed in a synthetic medium in October 2020 and their only nutrition has come from a mixture of fresh water and water pumped up into the tank from the Lagoon.
✅ All of the plants have survived this seven months and remain healthy. We are very pleased with the extent of root development as shown in the image above for it is the roots that will do the main work in water quality improvement.
✅ Water samples taken daily for two weeks in May by Council's Coasts and Catchments team have been frozen and sent to laboratories at ANU (Canberra) and Qld Dept of Health (Brisbane) for analysis of nutrients and urea respectively.
✅ Once the analysis has been received we will decide what further planting cycles are to be undertaken.
✅ The overall idea is that we test suitability of wetland plants to survive and thrive in Lagoon water. Once we find the right plants and measure what effect they have on water quality, we can consider growing them in floating pontoons in the Lagoon itself one day.
✅ Further information about the Floating Wetlands pilot is provided under 'Projects' on the main menu of our website's homepage.