At our April Monthly Highlights meeting, we welcomed speakers from two of our newest partners: Derek Schlea from LimnoTech and Andrew Rella from ECOncrete.
Derek Schlea, a senior ecological engineer at LimnoTech, gave a detailed description of a project demonstrating how wetlands contribute to large-scale water quality. The study site for this project was a constructed wetland placed between an agricultural zone in northwest Ohio and Lake Erie. Agricultural runoff releases high amounts of point and nonpoint nutrient pollution, which can cause harmful algal blooms downstream, but this team wanted to show how wetlands can intercept that pollution before it gets to major water sources like the Great Lake.
The project involved three stages. First, they conducted a literature review and site identification process, followed by a design and creation of the field demonstration site, and the project culminated in a hydrologic monitoring system, of which Schlea gave a short demonstration at the end of the presentation. The monitoring system included a water pump, and Schlea showed the group how they could quickly turn the tap on, adding water to the wetland and viewing it on cameras in real time.
Learn more about this exciting collaboration between LimnoTech, USACE ERDC and USGS here.
Andrew Rella, a coastal and environmental engineer, gave an overview of ECOncrete’s work and technology. ECOncrete designs nature-positive concrete tech for marine construction, accumulating over 40 projects and securing 10+ patents since they started out in 2012.
According to ECOncreteTech.com, concrete is the source of approximately 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions, and in marine applications it often displaces wildlife and corals. “Compared to traditional concrete, ECOncrete structures support up to 2X more biodiversity, 7X more carbon storage, and 16X better water quality, and have up to 10% greater compressive strength, and greater durability.”
ECOncrete is designed to not only store carbon, but to take on the shape of an artificial reef, supporting marine life on the macro and micro level. Learn more about this cool technology here.
The Monthly Highlights meeting is held on the second Wednesday of each month and brings representatives from all of our partners together to discuss their ongoing work. This collaborative space supports our action items of gathering, informing and advancing.
Featured image: Ron Lach via Pexels.com
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