Fort Collins High School, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
Jack Devincenzi from Fort Collins High School through his research found that ditch systems can fall victim to pollution. With that, he decided to educate residents who live in and around the Sherwood Straight about the impact that pet waste, pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemicals can have on water quality if not properly managed. By keeping the water in the ditch systems clean, it would also improve the water quality of Lake Sherwood, the Fort Collins High School, and Stew Case Park fields, and ultimately the Poudre River downstream as it’s all connected back to the ditch systems. Jack reached out to 300 households during the week of Earth Day. His goal was to collect pledges from at least 30% of the households on three different actions they could take in and around their homes to reduce pollution and improve water quality of the Sherwood Straight. Ultimately, he reached a 50% response rate and heard a lot of enthusiasm for this solution. This project contributes to Target 6.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals.
