Les Joyeux Patenteux, a youth program broadcast on Radio-Canada, were in Dudwell in recent days. They offered Lac d’Argent its own artificial floating island.
It was during the filming of the episode entitled L’île Filtralo that Les Joyeux Patenteux offered this islet to Lac d’Argent. The latter consists of a structure that contains coconut fabrics, a little potting soil and plants.
The idea behind this is that the root system of the plants and the coconut will become a suitable environment for micro-organisms, bacteria, which will feed on the excess phosphate and organic matter. […] All of this helps to maintain good water quality, explained the show’s producer and co-host, Jean-Sébastien Busque.
Forgetting the idea, the manufacturing of the floating island required six to eight hours of work. Subsequently, the efforts continued for four hours for the launching of the device.
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It was in the studios of the happy inventors, in Saint-Camille, that the floating island was made.
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A study that continues
Now that the island is installed, Jean-Sébastien Busque and the rest of his team will closely monitor the evolution of the environment.
We installed a camera that will make a hyper-accelerated video. We will see the progress of the plants that we put on top. On a regular basis, we will visit and make sure that the plants have survived. It is certain that we had a good heat wave that was a little difficult for our plants. We will take some notes to see if it holds up.
For now, the island is not expected to be a permanent presence on Silver Lake. If all goes as planned, the device will be removed once the analyses are completed.
We offered them the project on a temporary basis, and we’ll really see what happens.
A quote from Jean-Sébastien Busque, producer and co-host, Les Joyeux Patenteux
This winter, the island may have to be removed from the water and protected with mulch so that it can be used again when the ice melts.
An American-inspired innovation
Floating islands like the one recently installed in Dudswell are found in Chicago, an industrial city that uses islets year-round to preserve the quality of its waters.
The city has really invested a lot in making its waterways usable, perhaps not for swimming, but at least for boats. […] They installed hundreds of meters of floating islands in the hope of cleaning up the waterways. In the past, in Chicago, many industries left toxic materials in the water, said Jean-Sébastien Busque.
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This is what the islet looks like on Silver Lake.
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It was the Joyeux patenteux team itself that contacted the Municipality of Dudswell to offer this floating island on Lac d’Argent. The body of water was chosen based on its geographical proximity and accessibility.
It’s a beautiful lake and it’s not very far from our studios. It must be said that we produce the show from the village of Saint-Camille. We built the structure in our studios in Saint-Camille and it’s not too difficult for us to bring the whole team to Dudswell.
