In February, the Oregon Society of Soil Scientists annual meeting was focused on the soil/water -waste interface. I don't know how many talks we heard about phyto-remediation, but it's definitely the latest thing. There were people talking about everything from "botanical-burritos" to "Eco-machines" to "floating islands" to fully reconstructed wetlands to filter junk out of water. What is phyto-remediation? Basically, the use of plants to uptake toxins we don't want in our water. Companies and government agencies are hiring these guys to make "green" technologies for cleaning up contaminated water near cities and factories.
Cool examples of phytoremediation projects around the world:
http://www.toddecological.com/files/case-studies/Baima_Case_Study.pdf
http://www.floatingislandes.com/14.html
http://www.sproutoregon.org/sites/default/files/projects/BotanicalBurrito4FlierEnglish2007.pdf
http://www.fungi.com/mycotech/roadrestoration.html
