Abstract: A method for removing pollutants from water, according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, comprises the steps of providing algal spores for seeding, providing a source of water for flowing through a floway, and the water contains a quantity of pollutants and has a pH on entry into said floway, providing a growing surface in the floway upon which the algal spores form an attachment, subjecting the algal spores in the floway to operating conditions resulting in the formation of an algal turf in which the algae has cell walls on its surface, adjusting the floway operating conditions such that a predetermined pollutant precipitates onto and/or into the algal cell walls but not into the water, and harvesting a portion of the algal turf including the cell walls onto and/or into which the pollutants have precipitated.