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FLOATING WETLAND PILOT PROJECTS
BIOPODS CO.
BIOPOD Co. installed a modular floating wetland system composed of biological materials at Roosevelt Lake in Roger Williams Park in the spring of 2026. The system, known as “Biopods,” consists of lightweight, interconnected human-scale modules designed to remediate polluted urban waterways through nature-based solutions, including mycoremediation and phytoremediation.
The installation’s primary goals are to improve water quality in Roosevelt Lake, which the RIDEM has identified as degraded due to nutrient imbalances, and to enhance biodiversity by providing habitat for amphibians, aquatic insects, and small vertebrates. The BIOPOD system introduces a prototype for decentralized, scalable ecological restoration that complements the park’s ongoing stormwater and wetland management initiatives. This project was made possible though funding provided by BLOOM RI.
BELOW AND ABOVE COLLECTIVE
FLOATING WETLAND
The Below & Above Collective is a group of Rhode Island-based artists, designers, environmentalists, and a botanist, who have installed a “floating wetland” structure in Roger Williams Park’s Polo Lake. With support from the Stormwater Innovation Center, it was deployed in July of 2024.
Polo Lake is especially prone to high nutrient loads and experiences cyanobacteria blooms every year. The floating wetland structure, made partially of foraged invasive Japanese knotweed stalks, was created to address these water quality issues and provide habitat for native plants and wildlife, but also serve as a conduit for community outreach and education.
The wetland structure hosts a variety of native plants, like Joe Pye weed, New England aster, and swamp milkweed, that will provide food and shelter for native insects, birds, and more. Data will be collected to assess the efficacy of the plants’ nutrient uptake. Samples will also be taken from the structure to survey the kinds of life that have found their homes there.
Graphic by artist Jasmine Gutbrod