FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Fresno company has turned to "floating islands" to keep its ponds from turning green with algae.
This was not your average landscaping project. Crews were planting brush and canna lilies into a foam material made out of recycled plastic bottles.
No real need for the plants to be drought tolerant because the 200 square foot BioHaven floating island was then pulled into a pond at the Grundfos Pump Company.
Floating Island West CEO Laddie Flock said the plants roots will help clean the pond water of nitrogen and other nutrients.
Flock explained, "It's competing in a sense for the same food algae needs in order to grow. Everybody has seen a pond that has cloudy and dirty water and sometimes it smells."
Grundfos put in two graywater ponds three years ago as part of a sustainability project.
Rainwater is captured and the runoff has been used to irrigate the landscape. The company saw the island as a perfect solution to clean the pond.
Grundfos facilities supervisor Greg Gorby said, "It will grow roots down into the water and then it will help to aerate our pond and promote a healthier pond."
The island was sturdy enough for a worker to stand on and push the foam into the water.
Grundfos is the world's largest pump manufacturer so it made sense a solar-powered pump will be attached to an island to help clean the pond.
Gorby said, "We believe strongly in sustainability and we feel like this will be an opportunity to promote this solution."
Crews built three islands which were now floating in the company's two ponds.