BIOPOD: Participatory water remediation

What if we could harness the power of plants, microorganisms,  and fungi to clean urban rivers and remediate pollution?

Biopods are human-scale ecosystem modules, designed to remediate water quality, rewild vital fringe marshes into urban environments, and engage the public in citizen science. The basic interactive module works on two levels. On the molecular level,  the microorganisms, plant roots, and fungi metabolize the pollutants and particles in river water. On the human level, Biopods engage people from local communities in the health of their water sources through Biopods making, deployment, and supporting biodiversity in urban rivers. 

Urbanization and industrialization continue to wreak havoc on our ecosystems, erasing habitats and polluting our environment. Wetlands, nature’s detoxifiers, are disappearing three times faster than forests due to human activities. Current restoration efforts rely on slow and expensive top-down implementation and are often at an infrastructural scale and don’t fully leverage the power of bottom-up public action to rapidly scale their efforts. 

Biopods are  floating miniaturized wetlands of plants-biomaterials- microorganism designed ecologies.  Biopods harness the natural interactions between plants and fungi for bioremediation. Reishi mycelium forms the base, filtering pollutants and providing structure. Native wetland plants, sourced from a healthy ecosystem, are planted on top. Their roots intertwine with the mycelium, creating a self-sustaining bioremediation system. The modular biopod system is designed for participatory co-creation events to enhance practical skills and understanding of wetlands’ role in the local ecosystem. The inaugural deployment of the first biopod prototype took place in August of 2023 in Providence, Rhode Island. Workshops and events collaborating with community-focused organizations, including Stormwater Innovation Center, local maker spaces, and the Waterfire Festival, foster community involvement.

Biopods are designed to be a hub for natural biointeractions between humans, native flora and fauna. The modularity of the biopods make them accessible to produce, deploy and observe. The biomateriality and morphology of biopods facilitates the growth of plants, fungi and microbial biofilms allowing them to intermingle and collectively act as a bioremediating living machine. Over time an array of biopods grow into more permanent wetlands, re-wilding fringe marshes and attracting biodiversity.