WALNUT CREEK -- The city has a new weapon against goose poop in Heather Farm Park's cement pond -- floating islands.

To cut down on chemically treating water and to give fish a chance to thrive, Walnut Creek became the first Bay Area city Tuesday to try out man-made floating islands as an environmentally sustainable way to get cleaner water and improve fish habitat.

Volunteers planted and launched two 100-square-foot "BioHaven Floating Islands" in the park's cement pond Tuesday. Using recycled plastic drinking bottles on the bottom, which look like 12-inch-thick steel wool pads, the islands' tops were loaded with mulch and about 50 plants each. The islands act as wetlands designed to suck up pollutants from the lake floor and at the same time create shade for fish, fostering a new habitat.

"If this works -- and there is no reason why it shouldn't -- the water quality will be substantially cleaner without" chemicals, said Mayor Bob Simmons, who helped plant and launch the islands Tuesday. "It will make the pond look nice, and I think a lot of people will appreciate that."

The islands will be chained to the bottom of the eight-foot-deep lake, so they won't move around too much. They also shouldn't be accessible to people.

Within a year, the islands will be established, and their root systems -- which can grow four feet long -- will suck out pollutants, said Mike Vickers, Walnut Creek's public services manager.

Kids from

Watching the kids learn about the islands, the plants and the fish is exactly why the Diablo Valley Fly Fisherman club wanted to get something done at the lake they use.

But fisherman's club members felt creating a better habitat is the right thing to do. And they hope a thriving lake with bigger fish will attract more kids and families to the lake, and eventually result in more fishing, said Dave McCants, a fly tier with the club.

"Kids are not around nature that much, this gets them out here to see there is much more in life than just video games," he said.

Read more here:

Walnut Creek launches floating islands to deal with pollutants, help habitat