This year, I decided to conduct a project that utilizes Windward's most unique and often unnoticed feature: the section of the LA River that runs under and through the middle of campus. For most of the year, the river is dry. However when it rains in the winter, sometimes around 10 feet of water flow through it only to be eventually combined with the ocean. Having interned at the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant, I began to wonder if it would be possible to harness some of this water, filter it, and recycle it to irrigate the plants across campus.
My plan consisted of three elements: 1) a flow meter that would detect when water was flowing in the river, 2) the irrigation system which would harness, filter, and export the water, and 3) regular monitoring of the treated water quality through the biology lab. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, I was restricted to what I was able to accomplish and was only able to prototype the flow monitor (shown below). After researching the different types of flow meters, I decided that a gear meter would be most effective for the potentially contaminated water that runs through river. It also can handle different flow speeds and no flow at all. The code for this flow meter was written in C, and will operate through a wireless Arduino board so that the flow rate can be displayed anywhere across campus. When the flow meter detects that there is water flowing through the river, it will activate the filtration system that should be engineered in future STEAM projects. A rough design of such a filtration system should include both primary and secondary treatment, in which the water would run through a series of settling tanks before it is disinfected through biological digestion.
This project could greatly improve water sustainability on Windward's campus and should be continued in the future.
My plan consisted of three elements: 1) a flow meter that would detect when water was flowing in the river, 2) the irrigation system which would harness, filter, and export the water, and 3) regular monitoring of the treated water quality through the biology lab. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, I was restricted to what I was able to accomplish and was only able to prototype the flow monitor (shown below). After researching the different types of flow meters, I decided that a gear meter would be most effective for the potentially contaminated water that runs through river. It also can handle different flow speeds and no flow at all. The code for this flow meter was written in C, and will operate through a wireless Arduino board so that the flow rate can be displayed anywhere across campus. When the flow meter detects that there is water flowing through the river, it will activate the filtration system that should be engineered in future STEAM projects. A rough design of such a filtration system should include both primary and secondary treatment, in which the water would run through a series of settling tanks before it is disinfected through biological digestion.
This project could greatly improve water sustainability on Windward's campus and should be continued in the future.