Martin County tries to improve water quality
Environmentalists use innovative technology to clean water
Martin County officials are using floating plant mats to improve water quality.
Senior ecosystem specialist Dianne K. Hughes said they are called Beemats and are described as floating wetlands.
"It's a floating, self-foam mat that has little holes in it, and then you just put the plants right into those holes and then let it grow," Hughes said.
Eleven mats can be found in the old Palm City stormwater treatment area, which captures, cleans and stores water before it flows into the St. Lucie River.
Beemats is a patented system which uses a cell foam mat to float aquatic plants in bodies of water for the purpose of removing pollutants. Hughes said the mats can reduce the harmful nutrients as much as 40 to 50 percent.
After the plants have done their job, they are removed and can be composted.