GaiaSoil™ Floating Wetland
Leaf Island brings the ecological benefits of wetlands to roadways and underpasses using our innovative GaiaSoil™ Floating Wetlands.
Immense stormwater capture potential, air pollution capture, traffic safety and more, at a fraction of the cost.
When Leaf Island co-founder, Dr. Paul Mankiewicz, invented GaiaSoil, it was done with the purpose of bringing green roofs to any rooftop without exceeding bearing capacity. What we realized was that GaiaSoil was quite literally lighter than water, so it floats. This means that we can construct stormwater capture systems with GaiaSoil that can take up as much water as the walls will hold without ever waterlogging the soil medium and causing the plants to die. GaiaSoil will always maintain the correct oxygen levels within the soil column of your wetland.
GaiaSoil™ Floating Wetlands replace traditional rain garden / swale systems, minus the high excavation costs that impact the scalability of many green infrastructure projects. They also provide added benefits on top, including increased pedestrian safety and the air pollution removal. Our floating wetlands are perfect for any industrial site or overpass where high-capacity stormwater capture is required.
The GaiaSoil in our floating wetlands is mostly composed of recycled Styrofoam, a pernicious waste stream material that we turn into something extraordinary. These floating wetlands remove an immense amount of Styrofoam from the waste stream.
Technical Specifications
High Capacity Storage
GaiaSoil™ Floating Wetlands can be built to any shape or size, and the wall height can be scaled to virtually any stormwater capture need. Our wetlands typically store 2 ft of water per square foot, which means that a GaiaSoil™ Floating Wetland can take up 100% of the stormwater from a runoff area 8 times larger than the wetland’s footprint during the heaviest storms. There is no easier way to take up stormwater than this!
Air Pollution Capture
The vertical wall of our GaiaSoil™ Floating Wetlands is covered in a moisture-absorbing mat that supports a thick layer of bryophytes. This wonderful organism boasts a high surface area – perfect for taking up air pollution right from the source. We typically build our floating wetlands in underpasses and industrial sites that have a high degree of guaranteed stormwater runoff; places that also happen to generate large amounts of air pollution that our floating wetlands safely capture and remove.
Virtually Indestructible
GaiaSoil™ Floating Wetlands feature a robust design that uses concrete traffic barriers for its walls and thick geotextile fabric as a liner. These barriers allow our floating wetlands to be used for traffic safety purposes, clearly separating roads from streets and bike paths. GaiaSoil™ Floating Wetlands can be used in place of bollards and other concrete structures that provide no ecological value in order to discreetly secure vulnerable infrastructure or highly-populated landmarks.
Proven Technology
Our first GaiaSoil™ Floating Wetlands, the Pier 5 Pop-Up Floating Wetlend, developed in partnership with DLANDstudio Landscape Architecture and the U.S. Geological Survey, captured millions of gallons of polluted stormwater runoff from the Major Deegan in the Bronx. The Pier 5 Pop-Up Floating Wetland was successful in improving water quality for the Harlem River, and demonstrated the effectiveness and scalability of floating wetlands moving forward.
Cost-Effective Scalability
The design behind our GaiaSoil™ Floating Wetlands reflects Leaf Island’s philosophy: Applying the concepts of biophysics and plant biology to create the best possible green technology from an ecological perspective, while incorporating waste stream materials and insuring that it is scalable. Our floating wetlands do not require costly excavation, which inhibits scalability. They can be installed in as quickly as a few days, which makes them incredibly efficient given their immense ecological benefits. Leaf Island recognizes that we can better the urban environment if our technologies are widespread, so we take the ease of installation into account with everything we design.
Contact Us
Igor Bronz
Co-Founder
igor@leafisland.org
646-322-6400