As the rainstorms regularly soak the state of Florida, so does polluted water runoff into waterways. One environmental group helps to combat water pollution by use of floating flower islands.
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00:00Afternoon rainstorms are fast becoming a regular part of Florida's forecast, but as the rains come, so does more polluted runoff into waterways.
00:10An environmental group out of South Florida is focused on cleaning up their waterways with floating flower islands to combat water pollution.
00:19AccuWeather's Leslie Hudson joins us live from Bell Island, Florida, with more on the story. Good morning, Leslie.
00:26Hey, good morning, Bernie. Yeah, as you guys alluded to, the rainy season officially here in the state of Florida.
00:35Here in central Florida, you can almost set your clocks to those afternoon storms. We had big deluges yesterday, but the problem is the more rain we get, the more of a problem with the runoff it becomes because fertilizer and chemicals that treat all of the grass here in central Florida and statewide run off into the canals.
00:53Now, this canal behind me actually had four floating wetlands, and it's a project that is starting to get roots across the state of Florida.
01:01A lot of areas are starting to realize that if you put plants in the water and float them, they can act like kidneys and clean the water around it.
01:10So this pilot program that's ongoing in Pinecrest, Florida, we have some video from them.
01:15It's really innovationable, and it actually could be pioneering in terms of cleaning waterways across not only the state of Florida, but eventually across the country.
01:23So what they do is they take marigolds and other large flowering plants, they put them on a floating flower bed, and then they put them in these waterways, and they can clean up about 50% of the pollutants in the waters, which is nitrogen and phosphorus.
01:41The problem is if you don't treat these waterways, then algae blooms can form, especially after huge rains in the state of Florida or anywhere, but we get so much rain here this time of the year.
01:57So that creates those algae blooms.
01:59Those algae blooms create eventually fish kills if they're not treated, and it also will kill the native plants in this area.
02:07So it's a huge issue, but we talked to the founder of Phytoflora, and she's really got some innovative and pioneering ways to try and mitigate this problem.
02:19We expect that our floating wetlands should be able to remove between 10% to 20% of both nitrogen and phosphorus, but we're really hoping that this pilot can demonstrate to other communities that, you know, we can do this
02:35if, as a community, if we do this together and we scale these installations, and not only can we help, you know, remove and clean the pollution out of our waters,
02:48but we could potentially create a financially self-sustaining operation.
02:54So what they actually do is, after they put these flowering plants in these floating wetlands, if you will, they let them grow to a hearty size,
03:07and when they're ready to harvest, just like you would cut flowers and put them in a bouquet in your dining room table or in your living room,
03:12they take those flowers and they sell them at the local farmer's market in South Florida.
03:16So it's a great win-win. Not only do those flowering plants clean the waterways, but then they harvest those flowers and sell them back to the community.
03:25It's the most green kind of bouquet you can get for mom on Mother's Day.
03:29The hope is that this project will take off, and other cities around the state of Florida will start to incorporate these flowering wetlands,
03:38and then eventually the hope is this will spread nationwide, because pollutants in the waterways is a tremendous problem,
03:44not just only here in Florida, but you have to remember when it rains, that water's got to go somewhere.
03:49It goes into those lakes and canals, and eventually, if you live near the Atlantic Ocean, which South Florida does, it dumps right into the Atlantic.
03:56So it's really interesting stuff that they're doing there.
03:59They're hoping that this will take off, and it's one of the big efforts that's been ongoing so far this year.
04:06Reporting in Belle Isle, Florida, I'm Leslie Hudson. Back to you.
04:10Leslie, incredible. You find the coolest stories.
04:12And speaking of Mother's Day, happy early Mother's Day to you.