Rooting Out Pollution: A Natural Floating Wetland for Heavy Metal, Nutrients, and PFAS Remediation
CWSF · 2026 Natural Resources Silver Medal
Overview
Water pollution is poisoning aquatic ecosystems and threatening human health, with 73% of Indigenous water systems described as "medium or high risk" (The Council of Canadians), while current treatment methods remain ineffective against many persistent contaminants. Therefore, I designed an innovative floating wetland prototype constructed of natural materials that could utilize phytoremediation to improve water quality. This system employed the use of 3 local Indigenous plants from Aamjiwnaang First Nation as well as a homemade barley-straw-biochar-filter to remediate the water contaminants. My prototype has the capabilities to not only target traditional water pollutants like heavy metals, nutrients, and cyanobacteria, but can also target and remove emerging contaminants such as PFAS. In this experiment, each remediation source was tested for their abilities to eliminate contaminants individually and as apart of the prototype. Overall, my sustainable prototype yielded success in removing water contaminants while withstanding the natural environment.
Awards (3)
- Special Award
- Silver Medal
- Selected for CWSF 2026
Competition history
- CWSF 2026
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