Minnesota students show off their green thumbs at stormwater pond

ST. PAUL -- Students from Glacier Hills Elementary School saw firsthand this month how environmental scientists engineer solutions to tough problems - and they got to show off their green thumbs at the same time.

Their classroom was the stormwater retention pond behind their school in Eagan, where they helped install a floating island filled with pollutant-filtering plants.

“They suck up fertilizer and stuff that shouldn’t be in the water,” fifth-grader Grace Berg explained.

The floating islands are made of recycled plastic, perforated to allow the plants to grow. Their roots reach into the pond, and microbes on the roots help clean the water.

Jill Jensen, a science specialist at Glacier Hills, said installing plants and launching the island allowed her to teach students about how scientists and engineers find unique solutions to complex problems.

“This is a man-made solution to water-quality issues,” Jensen said.

She said that earlier in the school year, students designed their own floating filtration systems and tested them for such things as stability, buoyancy and how well plants grew.

“It gives them a better understanding of how engineers play a part in solving local community problems,” Jensen said.

The pond, designated JP49 by city officials, is part of the Fish Lake watershed, where community members are trying to improve the water quality. It lies sits right behind the art and science magnet school. On a cool May morning, students took turns walking down to the pond and helping ready the island for installation.

Gregg Thompson, a water resources specialist for Eagan, said this was the first time the city has installed a floating island. He was on hand to make sure it was anchored in a way that it wouldn’t clog a storm drain or otherwise hurt the Fish Lake watershed.

Glacier Hills obtained its island from the company Midwest Floating Island with a $900 grant from the Eagan Foundation.

Autumn Boos of Midwest Floating Island in St. Paul said her company’s islands are found in communities worldwide and designed to “biomimic” wetlands.

“Wetlands are basically nature’s kidneys,” Boos said.

Glacier Hills is one of the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan districts three magnet schools that focus instruction around themes such as art, science and culture. The magnet programs are popular with families and the district will convert Echo Park and Oak Ridge elementaries to magnet schools next year.

Echo Park will have an engineering and technology focus, and Oak Ridge will have an environment and health sciences theme.

District officials use the magnet programs to better balance student diversity at schools with enrollments of low-income and minority students that exceed the district average.

The Pioneer Press is a media partner of Forum News Service.

1/2: Fifth grader Ashley Rivera from Glacier Hills Elementary School plugged a plant into a hole on a floating island which will be installed in a stormwater run-off pond in Eagan, on Tuesday, May 12, 2015. The floating island, also known as a floating treatment wetland, helps provide wetland habitat while naturally improving water quality. The aquatic plants grow roots down below the islands, filtering the pond waters. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

2/2: Fifth graders from Glacier Hills Elementary School plugged plants into holes on a floating island which will be installed in a stormwater run-off pond in Eagan, on Tuesday, May 12, 2015. The floating island, also known as a floating treatment wetland, helps provide wetland habitat while naturally improving water quality. The aquatic plants grow roots down below the islands, filtering the pond waters. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)