Natural Urban Runoff Treatment

"Boomhouwer and his neighbors hope that a new 2-acre water-cleaning wetlands the city is now creating on the east side of Alicia Parkway might provide a solution. Faced with a cleanup order by state water regulators, city officials are putting the finishing touches on the wetlands -- bulrushes, cattails and other aquatic plants -- that will help filter out fecal coliform or turn it into more benign components. When it is completed this week, the natural water-treatment system will work in conjunction with an existing wetlands on the west side of Alicia that in the past year has proven successful in cleaning the water to standards acceptable for swimming, officials said."