Water ecosystems are depleting around the world, and in India its rivers are dying or a majority are beyond recognition from pollution. This scarcity of water impacts all life, including vegetation, health and the environment. While much is, in recent times, being done to control sewage, little is done to rejuvenate or restore waterbodies tainted by it.

A man from Indore, India, found this imbalance while working in the water sector and devised naturally floating islands that used aquatic plants to clean waterbodies. Priyanshu Kumath started his company Clean Water to help private and government organisations build sewage treatment plants. His attention soon turned to the complete ignorance of waterbodies that had been polluted but not restored. Most waterbodies in India are encroached on all sides by construction and there is no room to set up sewage treatment plants. Even sewage treatment plants (STPs) come with a harmful hand, and contain chlorine which is deadly to aquatic life and surrounding flora and fauna..

He had started Clean Water to create a change so he moved back to Indore and started an organisation called Clean Water, to help private and government orgs build sewage treatment plants. After working on this he realised that waterbodies were being completely overlooked. This caused him to focus on the waterbody restoration sector While clean water is being pumped into households and sewage is being treated, the restoration of waterbodies still draws a bleak picture.

Priyanshu Kumath’s Floating Islands mimic nature’s process and provide the effect of wetlands to urban waterbodies to both restore ecology and purify the source. Clean Water products are advanced constructed floating ecosystems with multiple reparational benefits. The ability of these floating islands to provide habitat to different organisms such as vertebrae, insects, birds and fishes further that further restore the local ecological (cycle).

Priyanshu Kumath has borrowed several techniques from STP functions and applied them here. In India, invasive plant species like duckweed, algae and water hyacinth are found in most public waterbodies. These microorganisms feed on the pollutants in the water. Floating islands competes with these invasive species and attracts the pollutants and sediments, thus starving and reducing the presence of the others. The islands act as a protection and nutrition for fish who hide under it and birds who prey on those fish. Floating Islands are also a beautification tool that add colour to its surroundings and comes in six kinds suitable for various architectural and design needs.

Floating Wetland Islands: Floating Islands are modular platforms that float on water and have plants planted on top of them (what plants?) The roots of these plants extend into the water and friendly bacteria attach themselves on the bottom of the island. The island is designed to maximise microbial activity which furthers the visitation of other marine life.

The floating islands are optimised for bio-film development that ensures maximum water treatment per unit area. The floating island acts as a barrier and settles sediments and uptakes pollutants such as nitrogen, phosphorous and heavy metals. The biomedia enables formation of the bio-film which work with the plant roots to suck in these pollutants and nutrients.

The island serves as a sustainable habitat for microorganisms that are vital to the ecosystem and removes pollutants and harmful bacteria without any chemical treatment. It stabilises and protects the littoral zone from wave impact and erosion. Marine life thrives with it and adds to the landscape with its various plants (what are they?).

The bio-film that forms is eaten by smaller organisms that are consumed by fish, which are harvested out of the water by birds and humans. Floating Islands thus clean the water, restores the ecological cycle and beautifies the surroundings.

Floating Islands have thus far helped clean and restore several waterbodies by restoring natures footprint. Clean Water products besides Floating Wetland Islands also includes Floating Habitats,FI Bio-floats,FI-Greenedge,FI-Aquascape AND FI ECO-LANDS to suit the needs and cause of different groups and individuals.