Ponds, marsh helping keep pollution at bay

Tucked away in a mostly unnoticed corner of Mason Park are a marsh and two ponds too small for recreational use by canoeists or anglers.

But the unassuming Brays Bayou Freshwater Tidal Marsh could provide part of the solution to a monumental problem facing the region: the pollution of Galveston Bay.

They are part of a demonstration project aimed at determining whether man-made wetlands can filter contaminants out of stormwater runoff and reduce the pollution that makes its way into bayous and the bay.

The Environmental Protection Agency, the county and the city of Houston are searching for ways to filter out noxious chemicals because they cause about half the pollution in Galveston Bay, said Andy Sipocz, a biologist and natural resources coordinator with Texas Parks and Wildlife.

from the Houston Chronicle