A curtain of bubbles could help keep plastic out of Michigan’s Grand River.
I’m Bennett Blackwood.
In Lansing, researchers have been showing residents a small working model of a river cleanup idea. It’s called the Bubble Barrier. A system has been operating in Amsterdam since twenty nineteen. In an original film from that launch, co-founder Philip Ehrhorn explains what makes it work.
Philip Ehrhorn, original 2019 launch film: The Bubble Barrier is an air bubble curtain. We create that by placing a tube on the bottom of the river. And through a lot of tiny holes in the tube, we then pump air through it, and the rising air bubbles create the Bubble Barrier.
Those rising bubbles bring drifting plastic to the surface. The river’s flow then guides it to a collection point.
For Lansing, the work goes beyond installing equipment. Researchers are checking how the system would fit the Grand River, and listening to concerns about fish, effectiveness and upkeep.
An earlier plan targeted construction in twenty twenty-seven. Permits and funding still need to come together. This is a proposal, with more work ahead.
Community input can help shape a cleanup system their city would have to keep running.
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