carolina clear is a comprehensive stormwatereducation and involvement program that is run by clemson extension. one of the program’sextraordinary teaching tools was placed on vibrant display recently on the campus ofclemson university. carolina clear intern ryan medric and a crew of collaborators constructeda floating wetland shaped like a tiger paw that is designed to be as environmentallyfriendly as it is beautiful.
Hong Kong Wetland Park , so it’s a 400-square-foot floating tigerpaw mat. and it has about a thousand holes on it, which we’re going to put these plantsinto pots and then they fit into the holes. and basically the roots will go through thepot and into the water and work kind of like a vacuum to absorb excess nutrients and pollutantsthat are there in the water. and then eventually
we’ll have to come in and take the plantsout and then we’ll plant them along the shore somewhere and put new plants in. ryan came to me with this idea of a floatingwetland. and originally he had wanted to do it at the big pond in front of the library.and after research, that’s too shallow. so we thought, ‘where else can we put this?’and so, my role was setting up meetings for him and finding the spot. but he did mostof the work. so i give him all the credit. so he did a great job with this. people havealready been asking, “can we put more out?†so it brings school spirit. and it’s prettyto look at. and it helps clean the water. so it’s got a lot of benefits.
run by clemson extension here at clemson university.we’re partnered with 38 communities, cities and counties across south carolina to provideeducation opportunities for residents and target audiences to minimize pollution tolocal waterways that also meets stormwater permit requirements that are delegated tothe state of south carolina and south carolina department of health and environmental control. here we are today at clemson university inthe old seneca river basin. and clemson university is now the first university to be permittedfor their stormwater discharges in south carolina. we joined dozens of other universities acrossthe country in having to face this similar requirement but also in trying to take proactivemeasures to improve water quality which we
all like to enjoy on this campus and feela great part of our landscape and our culture here in the upstate of south carolina. with this demonstration practice, we’rehoping to educate through involvement and demonstration and show one type of effortthat can be used and deployed across the region and across these watersheds to remove nutrientsfrom the water column. and this is letting nature play a role in stormwater pollutionprevention. the plants that we have here today are wetland plants. and they’ll be installedin this floating treatment wetlands to take up the excess nutrients that might be comingoff these fields. and this is similar to a project that anyone can do within their homeownersassociation or neighborhood or commercial
complex to also mitigate nutrients. carolina clear and clemson extension, in aneffort to raise awareness and build resources that anyone can use to find out more aboutthese projects produces factsheet series called sc waterways. and this factsheet is on floatingtreatment wetlands. it has a list of plants that are appropriate for floating treatmentwetlands. why these are important types of efforts and valuable to waterways. how easyit is to deploy the floating treatment wetlands. and what we’re trying to do here today is,we’ll put these plants in, see how they grow, and when they get too big for this floatingtreatment wetland, we’re going to try to install them along the shoreline so that wecan create a shoreline buffer and keep those
plants growing. and buffers also do a reallygood job of managing both erosion and taking nutrients out of stormwater runoff beforeit hits the pond or hits surface water. so we’re trying to keep up-cyling these plantsand protect our investment in these plants and also protect water quality.
carolina clear is a comprehensive stormwatereducation and involvement program that is run by clemson extension. one of the program’sextraordinary teaching tools was placed on vibrant display recently on the campus ofclemson university. carolina clear intern ryan medric and a crew of collaborators constructeda floating wetland shaped like a tiger paw that is designed to be as environmentallyfriendly as it is beautiful.
Hong Kong Wetland Park , so it’s a 400-square-foot floating tigerpaw mat. and it has about a thousand holes on it, which we’re going to put these plantsinto pots and then they fit into the holes. and basically the roots will go through thepot and into the water and work kind of like a vacuum to absorb excess nutrients and pollutantsthat are there in the water. and then eventually
we’ll have to come in and take the plantsout and then we’ll plant them along the shore somewhere and put new plants in. ryan came to me with this idea of a floatingwetland. and originally he had wanted to do it at the big pond in front of the library.and after research, that’s too shallow. so we thought, ‘where else can we put this?’and so, my role was setting up meetings for him and finding the spot. but he did mostof the work. so i give him all the credit. so he did a great job with this. people havealready been asking, “can we put more out?†so it brings school spirit. and it’s prettyto look at. and it helps clean the water. so it’s got a lot of benefits.
run by clemson extension here at clemson university.we’re partnered with 38 communities, cities and counties across south carolina to provideeducation opportunities for residents and target audiences to minimize pollution tolocal waterways that also meets stormwater permit requirements that are delegated tothe state of south carolina and south carolina department of health and environmental control. here we are today at clemson university inthe old seneca river basin. and clemson university is now the first university to be permittedfor their stormwater discharges in south carolina. we joined dozens of other universities acrossthe country in having to face this similar requirement but also in trying to take proactivemeasures to improve water quality which we
all like to enjoy on this campus and feela great part of our landscape and our culture here in the upstate of south carolina. with this demonstration practice, we’rehoping to educate through involvement and demonstration and show one type of effortthat can be used and deployed across the region and across these watersheds to remove nutrientsfrom the water column. and this is letting nature play a role in stormwater pollutionprevention. the plants that we have here today are wetland plants. and they’ll be installedin this floating treatment wetlands to take up the excess nutrients that might be comingoff these fields. and this is similar to a project that anyone can do within their homeownersassociation or neighborhood or commercial
complex to also mitigate nutrients. carolina clear and clemson extension, in aneffort to raise awareness and build resources that anyone can use to find out more aboutthese projects produces factsheet series called sc waterways. and this factsheet is on floatingtreatment wetlands. it has a list of plants that are appropriate for floating treatmentwetlands. why these are important types of efforts and valuable to waterways. how easyit is to deploy the floating treatment wetlands. and what we’re trying to do here today is,we’ll put these plants in, see how they grow, and when they get too big for this floatingtreatment wetland, we’re going to try to install them along the shoreline so that wecan create a shoreline buffer and keep those
plants growing. and buffers also do a reallygood job of managing both erosion and taking nutrients out of stormwater runoff beforeit hits the pond or hits surface water. so we’re trying to keep up-cyling these plantsand protect our investment in these plants and also protect water quality.