Dubuque turns 67,000 recycled bottles into floating creek islands

There are 14 islands totaling 2,674 square feet. Each island is a miniature replica of the natural archipelagos of the Mississippi River. Before the islands were placed in the creek, four prototype designs in a variety of shapes and sizes were developed. Sometimes the answer for a city that has fought floodwaters for years isn’t more concrete, bigger pipes or taller walls. In Dubuque, Iowa, an old creek that was reopened became the site of an unusual experiment: 14 floating islands made partly from thousands of recycled plastic bottles. The islands were installed in 2017 as part of the Bee Branch Creek restoration and were designed to do more than just add greenery. Today, they help protect the creek, improve water quality and provide small pockets of habitat for fish, birds and aquatic life, states an online report by IECA News. Scroll down to read the details.Making a buried creek into an assetFlooding has been a problem in Dubuque for a long time, especially in the 7-square-mile Bee Branch Watershed, where more than half of the city's residents live or work. Repeated flash floods damaged some 1,300 homes and businesses, with widespread destruction to buildings, roads and stormwa...