Team Size: 1

Subject Area: Environmental Issues

Project Type: Experimental

Project Level: Advanced

Project Format: Traditional

Project Summary: For decades, water pollution has caused major crises worldwide. A significant amount of water contamination is caused by illegally deposited chemicals and sewage in rivers flowing into larger water bodies. Recently, scientists have been turning to more natural and aesthetically pleasing methods of water purification. In particular, the purification of water through absorption of pollutants by plants has begun to be investigated. There have been many complaints regarding the elimination of natural wetlands throughout Canada. By constructing wetlands with the ability to filter water, new habitats are also being created.

I have decided to investigate the efficiency of a constructed wetland filtration system. I will build several wetland models, with identical plants but varying filters and test their efficiency in removing different types of contaminants from water. This water will remain in the wetland system for several weeks until it is drained into a separate container and tested. The amount of different pollutants will be measured and compared to the original polluted water.

Software Tools used: Internet Explorer, Notepad

Hardware Tools used: Digital camera, computer

Source of the Idea for the project: This project was inspired through research on constructed wetlands and advice from Dr. Sorger (my mentor).

Special Skills used: Assistance with HTML codes was obtained for this website.

Awards won for the project: My project won a silver medal at the 2004 Hamilton Wentworth Catholic Distric School Board Science Fair and a Primary Fluid Systems Environmental Award at the Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair.