Floating wetland

Bamboo, twine, clay, soil, Pleurotus ostreatus mycelium, Canna indica, and Typha sp.

As part of the Danda Ecosystem Monitoring Program, this work was created for the ecology and students of Pratiman-Neema Memorial Foundation in Siddharthanagar, Nepal.

The floating wetland is a woven, bamboo raft populated with emergent wetland plants in mycelium containers and planting medium. The wetland was placed in the west drainage channel that drains into the Danda River and is composed of urban runoff from Siddharthanagar. Because Siddharthangar is an expanding urban center and an agricultural town, the drainage is filled with harmful contaminants including industrial waste, nitrates, E. coli, sediment solids, and heavy metals. Canna lily (Canna indica) and cattail (Typha sp.) are two plants that have been researched and used for the effective remediation/sequestration of heavy metals. Furthermore, oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) mycelium was used to additionally support in remediation against nitrates and E.Coli.

The effectiveness of the floating wetland is also due in large part of the underwater biofilm that are created by the root system of the plants. As the roots grow into the water, they create habitat for bacteria and microorganisms known as a biofilm. The biofilm collectively acts as the primary mechanism for contamination removal. As water passes through the biofilm, microbes and bacteria catch and absorb the contaminants. Within this process, organic sediments are broken down and converted into gas through volatilization. Furthermore, the root system of the plants uptake these materials and through sorption and sequestration the materials are transferred to the biomass of the plant. It is critical that the bamboo raft float on the surface of the water so that the leaves of the plants continue to photosynthesize, yet the roots of the plants are submerged.

After the wetland was installed, it was the wish of the college to put a barrier around it so animals would stay out. Barbed wire and bamboo were installed. Six weeks later, a second floating wetland was installed by the community and modeled after ours. The floating wetland was made with bamboo, a local and renewable resource and woven with twine. The ellipse/egg-like shape of the floating wetland was intended to represent a seed which we see as a container of potential as well as an incubatory space where transformation happens. We see the floating wetland sculpture as a representation of potential and transformation. The overall purpose of the floating wetland was to conduct water quality research upstream and downstream from the wetland.

The Danda Ecosystem Monitoring Program was supported in part by the Burning Man Global Arts Grant