Question
First off, I know nothing about water lillies.  I got one out of my dad's pond and put it in my small 60 gallon pond.  I thought that it was dirt that was floating with the lillies, but upon further inspection it was some sort of algae.  I tried to clean it all off of the lillies, but did have some casualties.  I chopped some of the roots in half, will they come back from that?  And also, why are the roots floating?  If I put the root in a pot, and put in on the bottom of the pond, all of the plant would be underwater.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thank you.

Answer
Hi Jaime,
thanx for your question.  The waterlily roots looks somewhat like a deformed pine cone.  If it is a large root, you can cut it  in half as long as there are growing points on the pieces.  Growing points are nodules that you can see have buds that will develop into foliage and blooms.  The root may also have smaller roots growing out of it that can easily be detached and potted up.  Don't scrub the root but you can use a water hose to clean them off.  Plant the root in a large pot (at least 6 inches in width) about 4 inches deep and cover with potting soil.  Put an inch or two layer of small pebbles on top of this to keep the dirt and root from coming out of the pot.  Put the pot in a shallow area of the pond where the top isn't covered so it can absorb water and become waterlogged.  Leave it overnight.  In the morning, sink the pot gently into the pond and the root and contents of the pot should stay put with out floating out of the pot (this is where the pebbles are helpful).  The plant should fully develop in a few weeks and appear as lily pads on top of the water and hopefully, you may get a bloom before it gets cold.  I hope this helps.
Tom