Thirteen degrees, 30 miles an hour wind, snow devils in my face and whats this? Solar-powered floating islands generating pools of open water?

Yes, two of them, water steaming in the chilly air and a lot of questions. Oxygenating the lake at Frances Slocum State Park? Letting fishermen have an opportunity to wet a line in an unconventional way?

No, its an effort to improve water quality at the lake, says Brian P. Taylor, park manager.

The reason we are installing Floating Wetland Islands (FWIs) is because they are an aesthetically pleasing, ecologically friendly means of reducing in-lake nutrient concentrations originating from nonpoint source pollution, as in the sediment/pollution that comes into the water system from rainfall and snowmelt, he said.

The two new FWIs each have a solar panel with an air-line running directly underneath each island.

The idea is to keep the underneath side of the islands well oxygenated through aeration to increase and maximize nutrient uptake, Taylor said. In other words, the more water that moves through the roots, the more sediment potentially that gets taken out of the lake by the islands.

Taylor said the two new islands brings the number of floating islands at the lake to four, all involved in cleaning the lake of harmful substances.

These islands are a tool we are using to help draw out sediment and phosphorus from our lake, Taylor said. There is a direct relationship between the amount of phosphorus in a lake and the amount of algae growing in it. And the algae blooms can be harmful. These islands help to keep the number and amount of algal blooms down. Long-term management of excessive algae requires the removal of phosphorus sources.

According to Princeton Hydro of New Jersey, which supplied the floating islands, they are constructed of durable, non-toxic post-consumer plastics on the bottom and vegetated with native plants on top. They help assimilate and remove excess phosphorus and nitrogen that fuel algae growth. Additionally, the islands also provide a beautiful habitat for birds, animals and fish.

The 250-square-foot islands are planted with several native plant species, including Joe-Pye weed, common rush, sedges, broadleaf arrowhead, and great blue lobelia. Plants on a single island can remove up to 10 pounds of nutrients per year.

It might not sound like much but it is.

In a published study, Fred S. Lubnow, director of Aquatic Programs for Princeton Hydro, wrote Since one pound of phosphorous has the potential to generate up to 1,100 pounds of wet algae biomass, this also means that one island has the potential to prevent the growth of up to 11,000 pounds of wet algae bloom.

The four floating islands could take out around 44,000 pounds of algae each year, but we are hoping for even more with the help of the aeration systems, Taylor said.

He explained the mechanism at work. The roots of the plants on the island will grow through the bottom of the island and absorb and remove nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen. This in turn feeds the plants and helps prevent other nuisance vegetation from growing.

The state of Washingtons Department of Ecology outlines how the phytoplankton that make up the algae blooms can wreak havoc in a freshwater lake.

As phytoplankton use up the nutrients in the surface waters, their growth slows and cells eventually die. Dying blooms can be an environmental concern because as the cells sink and decay, bacteria decompose the organic material, which in turn strips oxygen from the water. This microbial oxygen demand at times leads to very low oxygen conditions in the bottom waters, harming aquatic life.

The solar islands, which have a lifespan of about 15 to 25 years and require little or no maintenance, were installed in September by officials from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Luzerne Conservation District, Nanticoke Conservation Club and students at the Rock Solid Academy in Shavertown.

Taylor noted the same groups installed the earlier islands in the lake in 2013 and they are healthy and well-established, showing vigorous growth. Combined, these two FWIs are reducing the wet algal biomass in Frances Slocum Lake by approximately 22,000 pounds.

Princeton Hydro placed five of the islands in Harveys Lake in 2014 and is planning to install them at Lake Carey next.

Taylor said the funds necessary to acquire the islands came from The Luzerne Conservation District which applied for and was awarded a grant from the federal government to implement a few studies and tasks to help clear up the sediment from the lake. Hopefully we will have a higher quality lake when it is all said and done.

The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which oversees Pennsylvanias 120 state parks, started installing the floating islands at state parks beginning with Stephen Foster Lake at Mt. Pisgah State Park in Bradford County in May 2011 as a pilot program that proved successful. Since then, the department has placed them in several other state parks including Raccoon Creek in Beaver County, Shawnee in Bedford County and Marsh Creek in Chester County.

Contact the writer:

sports@citizensvoice.com

Original post:

Floating Wetland Islands filter pollutants at Frances Slocum - Scranton Times-Tribune