BlueBlocks™ Filter Coastline Protection + CSO Treatment System
Product Summary
Coastline Restoration Taken to the Next Level.
Intertidal wetlands are some of the most ecologically productive ecosystems on earth. In fact, one acre of wetland can filter millions of gallons of water each day. However, with the threat of rising sea levels and damaging storm surges, wetlands alone are not enough. Leaf Island has an all-in-one package for CSO / site runoff filtration, coastline protection and wetland restoration called the BlueBlocks™ Filter System.
This three-phase system protects the coastline from erosion, subsidence, rising sea levels and storm surges. Smaller iterations of the BlueBlocks™ Filter Coastline Protection + CSO Treatment System can take up 100% of all site runoff, while larger iterations can filter and purify the entire CSO yield from a nearby outfall.
As with all of Leaf Island’s technological innovations, we look to see if nature has solved a problem first. Then we seek to optimize these natural processes so they can suit the needs of the modern urban environment. Bacteria, mussels and recycled aggregates are great at synergizing to provide chemical and physical filtration to something as troublesome as Combined Sewage Overflow (CSO). In this regard, the BlueBlocks™ Filter Coastline Protection + CSO Treatment System is a living system, as it relies on microorganisms, plants and filter feeders to purify waste. After all, nature doesn’t recognize waste, and nature works for free.
How It Works
How It Works
Phase 1: Storage and Preliminary Treatment
A below-grade rain garden covered by a steel grate to allow for vehicle traffic. This rain garden received site runoff or CSO from a nearby outfall.
Phase 2: Accelerated Treatment & Bulkheading
Concrete BlueBlocks™ arranged in series that line the coastline. These blocks receive water from the Phase 1 rain garden and provide accelerated water treatment through an internal fixed-film filter that utilizes compressed air. These blocks also protect the coastline from erosion and elevate the coastline for storm surge protection.
Phase 3: Final Water Purification in Wetland
A constructed, modular intertidal wetland on top of a ramp. This wetland receives filtered water from the Phase 2 portion of the system and finishes the cleaning process in addition to cleaning the ambient water within the bay. The ramp allows you to move the wetland if needed.
Scaling
The image to your left shows a small, pilot-scale iteration of the BlueBlocks™ system, in the process of being built to prove that it can filter the runoff from this site. There is a nearby CSO outfall that produces so much discharge during heavy rainfall events that it would quickly overwhelm this particular system. We plan to extend this system along the stretch of coastline in order to scale it to handle all of the CSO discharge from the aforementioned outfall. Leaf Island likes green technology that scales.
Contact Us
Igor Bronz
Co-Founder
igor@leafisland.org
646-322-6400