Man-made floating wetland launched on Fellows Lake

GREENE COUNTY, Mo. — The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and City Utilities (CU) of Springfield are teaming up to improve water quality at Fellows Lake just north of Springfield by introducing a man-made wetland.

The structure is made of an aluminum wire basket and is filled with recycled glass aggregate. The wetland plants can then grow and send their roots into the water. The ecosystem of the native plants, fish, and water insects will then help improve the water quality as the plants continue to grow.

“We’ve done a lot of work with aquatic plants in the past and really with the focus on habitat. So thinking about fish and aquatic bugs or even above ground, the pollinators and the birds,” said Frank Nelson Wetlands System Manager with MDC. “And so this is a little bit of twist on that, and taking our experience with aquatic plants and really focusing on that water quality that we know that wetlands and their plants improve water quality.”

This floating wetland is slightly different from others placed by the Department of Conservation in places like Sequiota Park and Doling Park. Instead of using plastic to float, it uses recycled glass aggregate. The aggregate looks like regular gravel, but because of the porous material, it is incredibly light and buoyant keeping the island afloat.

Although this is not the first man-made wetland in Springfield, it is one of the first to be designed with Springfields water quality in mind.

CU says the goal is to improve water quality before it goes to a water treatment plant. With improved water quality going into the plant, they don’t need to add as many chemicals to treat the water, which would ultimately cut down on costs.

“One of the major things when you take a glass of water to drink, you want to make sure you actually don’t have any taste or nasty earthy taste from drinking the water,” said James Okumu, Water Systems Planning and Design Manager with CU. “And what this does is takes that out of the water and reduces how much chemicals that we need to use to actually treat the water.”

Both CU and MDC say they are looking forward to a continued partnership, and hope to place another wetland on McDaniel Lake.

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