Pilot project almost complete

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

Wheatland County’s Floating Island Pilot Project that began in a Carseland sewage lagoon earlier this spring is now almost complete, with it expecting to open before the end of June.
The project was meant to enhance the well being of the storage ponds and to create habitats for wildlife that call them home.
“It is part of an initiative to reduce phosphorus going into our water bodies, and is funded by the Lake Winnipeg Basin Stewardship Fund,” said Dave Churchill, Wheatland County’s General Manager for Transportation and Infrastructure Services.
The islands are called Floating Concentrated Wetlands, and are made up of recycled, plastic, non-toxic drinking bottles.
The plants, and its bacteria, that sit on top of the island, will absorb unwanted nutrients from the pond to improve water quality.
Churchill added that this project would benefit not only wildlife but also the people who are normally surrounding them in this type of environment.
“The benefit will be for the environment, fish in the rivers, sports fishermen, the public, ratepayers/taxpayers (and) the County,” he said.
However he did caution that this site that is not public friendly because of the materials being used.
“Because the experiment is of a bio-hazardous nature (the project simulates an effluent purification system and will contain bio-hazardous materials) members of the public are asked to refrain from visiting the site,” said Churchill.
He also did say that the project would be receiving $100,000 from the Lake Winnipeg Basin Stewardship Fund but did not know the exact costs to complete the project.