Скачать или смотреть Plants vs Pollution, How Floating Wetlands are Cleaning City Rivers

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What does it mean to improve water quality through life—especially in urban waterways where ecological function has been most disrupted? Floating wetlands work from a simple ecological principle: water is restored by restoring life. They are a nature-based solution inspired by how wetlands slow water, cycle nutrients, support microbial communities, and build dense root networks that anchor ecological processes. By providing a buoyant substrate for native plants to grow, floating wetlands reintroduce these patterns, rebuilding the root systems and microbial relationships that support healthier water.

In this webinar, we explore three floating wetland projects—engineered modules and community-built islands made from local natural materials that show how different structures can create the conditions for ecological function in places where it has been lost.

These wetlands also serve as living classrooms, helping students and communities understand how stormwater moves, how roots and microbes transform it, and how life is the driver of water quality.

Through case studies in Boston, Chicago, and Providence, we’ll look at how floating wetlands help restore urban waters by working with nature’s processes and rebuilding the conditions that support ecological function. Together, these case studies show how even highly engineered waterways can come back to life when we restore the living systems that sustain them.

Speakers in the Order they Present:

Nick Wesley - https://urbanrivers.org
Nick Wesley is Executive Director and co-founder of Urban Rivers and has led the development of Wild Mile from its grassroots origins to its current status as a globally recognized urban ecology project. Through his work, overcoming technical and regulatory challenges, the Wild Mile project continues to inspire similar initiatives in other cities around the world.

Max Rome -   / max-rome  
Max Rome is the City of Boston’s Director of Green Infrastructure. In this role he works to advance projects and policies that reduce runoff, decrease nutrient pollution, and help to green the city. Max completed his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Northeastern University in 2022. His dissertation “From Water Quality to River Health” focused on improved monitoring of algal blooms and understanding how urban rivers recover from pollution.

Alexandra Ionescu - https://belowandabovecollective.life
Alexandra Ionescu is the Associate Director of Regenerative Projects at Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, where she leads the Miyawaki Forest Program and curated the inaugural 2025 Northeast Miniforest Summit. Her work focuses on implementing nature-based solutions in urban settings, including floating wetlands that integrate art and ecological function through the Below and Above Collective, and urban afforestation using the Miyawaki Method. A lifelong student of how nature works, her approach—shaped by graduate education in Biomimicry—centers on cultivating the conditions for the web of life to emerge.

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Do you want to be able to rejuvenate landscapes and waterways with your own two hands? The Water Stories Core Course trains students with the essential skills to establish or enhance their career as a land regeneration professional, or revitalize their own landscape as a steward or advocate. Students learn all of the facets of providing water cycle restoration services, from reading land, to the approach and techniques, to how to get paid work and create estimates, to delivering finished projects.

This course prepares you with everything you need to step into a vocation as a water cycle restoration practitioner, including mentorship and a professional community dedicated to progress, success, and support. It prepares those working on their own landscape to create meaningful interventions that improve their waters and the overall productivity of their land. Enrollment for the 2026 Live Core Course is open until March 27th.
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   • Revive Rivers, Reverse Drought , Rejuvenat...  

Water Stories is an international community of more than 7,000 people from more than 200 different countries, all dedicated to helping support one another for water cycle restoration. Connect with others from around the world on this shared cause here:
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In addition to our course we have films, videos, resources, webinars, and much more - all available for free. This is a great place to learn more about the water cycle and Decentralized Water Retention.
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