USA

GREEN “GUTTERS”

2016, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES
Green Gutters
Sycamore High School suffers from a poor drainage system, with runoff from the roofs falling down onto the school grounds without the help of gutters, and Nate Halstead, Jessica Wei, and Dani Abramovitz wanted to change that. They proposed the implementation of a green wall, which would prevent excess water collection on the school grounds as there are many unutilized exterior walls which do not have adequate gutters.

The runoff from the school goes into the Little Miami watershed, which is notorious for flooding during the excessive amounts of rain the region receives. To lessen the impact of the excess water damage on the western wall of the school building, the group implemented a system of greenery on the brick walls. The plants were selected to best benefit the watershed, as the redirection of the roof’s drainage through the plants will act as the gutter, filtering the runoff while also adding a modern touch to the traditional school building. By providing a natural buffer for Stormwater from directly entering storm drains, the wall will serve to improve the general health of the watershed while increasing the natural beauty to the school that the community can enjoy.

WETLAND FLORA CONSTRUCTION

2016, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES
Wetland Flora Construction
Jared Bulla, Josh Rademacher, Logan Bush, and Justin Zhou of the Summit Country Day School wanted to help alleviate the problem of overabundant chemicals in the Little Miami River. This local river feeds into East Fork Lake, which in recent years has shown an increase in nitrogen and phosphate levels, resulting in algal blooms. The Valley View Foundation is working to create an area of wetlands that would serve as a natural drainage system for wastewater before it went into the Little Miami. The group’s project was then to ensure that the proper floras were planted in the wetlands to maximize the uptake of chemicals by plants.

The boys selected reeds, iris, and cattails as the primary plants due to their winter hardiness and affordability. They are effective in removing excess phosphorus and do well on their own after planting. The implementation of this program would be significant, as it would reduce the number of algal blooms in East Fork Lake. By choosing plants for the wetland that would do the most good, Jared, Josh, Logan, and Justin hope that they will be able to create a noticeable impact in their area.

AUTOMATIC FLUSHERS: TIME TO SAVE WATER

2016, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES
Automatic Flushers
Bennett Heyn was concerned by how much water Sycamore High School’s automatic flush toilets and urinals were wasting. Looking at the men’s restrooms specifically, with each “phantom flush” of a toilet 1.5 gallons of water were wasted alongside an additional 0.5 gallon per urinal. To create a solution to this problem, Bennett decided he would need to purchase additional sensors for the bathroom. These mirror devices attach to the automatic sensors, but require the user to hold their hands in front of it for a few seconds in order to activate the flush.

Installing four new sensors would save around 5,830 gallons of water per year, and a small start could lead to more being installed down the road. This project would benefit the environment by preserving the amount of natural water in it. Bennett’s high school would be reducing their water bill while also keeping the Little Miami Watershed clean. This project would be a great start for larger changes Sycamore could make down the road.

A RAIN GARDEN A DAY KEEPS THE DIRT AWAY

2016, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES
A rain garden a day keeps the dirt away
The Mill Creek, one of Cincinnati’s main waterways, has a water quality that is often defined as ‘fair’ or ‘poor’ due to the large amounts of contaminants that runoff into it. Aleeyah Nurredin’s high school, Mount Notre Dame, is next door to a convent with a stream that runs into the Mill Creek. To prevent the problem of damaging runoff, she proposed to create a rain garden. This garden would increase the water quality and reduce the flooding potential into the stream by the convent too.

This project would engage the larger MND community, collaborating with students to create the garden itself while educating residents of the convent next door. A rain barrel would first be installed after a group digs up a space for the garden, diverting water from the gutters. The underground basin would then be lined with stones to prevent erosion before being filled with soil and appropriate native plants. These plants would be arranged based on their water tolerance in order to promote the most success. Finally, once the plants are in place, the rain garden would be covered with a layer of mulch to keep the soil most. The rain garden would create a space of community enjoyment while also making positive changes to the environment due to the cleaner water going into the watershed.

CLEAN WOMEN, CLEAN WATER

2016, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES
Clean Women, Clean Water
Abigail Aubrey, Taylor Schmidt, and Alex Herbert attend Mount Notre Dame High School, whose student body is entirely female. They learned that a major problem for watersheds is that girls are flushing their menstrual products down toilets, impacting plumbing and creating waste that sits in landfills. To combat this problem, the group wanted to educate their peers and encourage them to try reusable pads and menstrual cups.

Women throw away and flush hundreds of disposable products and their packaging every month, driven by an industry that promotes the mindset of “out of sight, out of mind”. Disposable pads or tampons aren’t out of sight or mind, however, they are everywhere. To avoid toxins and the waste from traditional products, there are reusable alternatives. One menstrual cup or reusable pad will prevent waste and the cost of disposable products each month.

To educate the women of their school, Abigail, Taylor, and Alex created a week-long event called “Pad Wars”. During this week each grade is challenged to raise the most feminine hygiene products to send to Uganda so that young girls can continue to go to school. If someone brings in reusable products, they will receive extra points. Then after school, students would be able to attend a workshop about the importance of the watershed and receive a reusable menstrual cup. Through education, the group’s hope is that their peers are called to change their habits. In that way, they will be helping their watershed while taking care of their bodies!

AUTOMATIC RAINWATER TERRACE SYSTEM

2016, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES
Automatic Rainwater Terrace System
Creating a solution to the blindness of water usage and supply is imperative to saving the watershed and protecting the environment of the future. Molly Bonino of Mount Notre Dame High School focused on utilizing stored rainwater to make a difference in the Little Miami Watershed. To do this, she planned to put her attention to the issue of Ohioans dumping and overusing water and polluting storm drains.

To address this problem, Molly wanted to create an automatic rainwater terrace garden. This structure would be created with a boxed chamber, made of biodegradable plastic, with a soil moisture sensor. The sensor will send an electrical signal through the relays, allowing the box to open and release water for plants.

Conserving rain water and using it for tasks like watering a garden will not only prevent pollution of storm drains, but also positively maintain the growth of vegetation and soil richness. This sort of garden could be implemented at a home or school, starting small then growing in order to create awareness and contribute to the global push for change.

SAND OVER SALT

2016, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES
Sand over salt image
In the winter, Oak Hills High School uses a lot of road salt to de-ice the surrounding pavement surfaces. Bridget Kallmeyer, Erin Kallmeyer, and Lindsey Lawrence found this unnecessary, as more salt than needed was being used, and was running off into the Stormwater collection system that flowed into nearby waterways. To combat some of the excess salt use, the group came up with a plan to replace the salt used in the student parking lot with sand.

The project would first only cover ¼ of the student lot due to concerns from the building manager, but if it goes well, more of the space can begin to use sand. Additionally, the custodial staff will be educated on the use of sand and why using too much salt can be detrimental to the waterways.

Sand would potentially decrease the amount of money that is spent on salt annually, and provides traction and works in all temperatures. However, since sand does not melt snow, it would require more applications in order to keep students safe. If the implementation is successful, Oak Hills would be saving money and protecting their nearby waterways!

Invasive Plant Removal at Mathis Pond

2016 Grass Valley, California, USA

When Nåah Lifland, of Sierra Academy of Expeditionary Learning, was asked how he could improve his watershed, he immediately thought of Mathis Pond Preserve, an area that students from his school visit to get field experience with water quality sampling.

Nåah proposed to expand stewardship activities at the pond by organizing invasive plant removal efforts. These efforts would allow the native plants to flourish and provide more suitable wildlife habitat in the area. With funding from Nutrien, Nåah was able to purchase tools for the task of removing the invasive species, particularly Himalayan blackberries.

During the 2016/17 school year, 65 students visited the site four times and removed blackberries for four hours on each visit, totaling 1,040 hours of service improving the habitat at Mathis Pond. Future students will also use the tools to continue stewardship of the Preserve.

Cleaning Garcia Bend

2016 Sacramento, California, USA

Garcia Bend Park is a neighborhood park on the banks of the Sacramento River. Trash and debris left here by visitors or illegally dumped here continues to be an ongoing issue. Unfortunately, most of that trash ends up directly entering the adjacent waters, and directly or indirectly harming aquatic wildlife. Alexa Smith and Priscilla Dawson wanted to practice good stewardship of their watershed and encourage others to do the same. Alexa, who has been involved in clean-ups before, understood how eye-opening clean-ups can be; seeing all the accumulated debris directly can make students think twice before littering themselves and inspire them to take action. Priscilla and Alexa organized a group from The MET Sacramento to return to this area. In one morning, they collected 11 bags of trash from the park! Students enjoyed being outdoors while doing something good for their community and the watershed.

Southside Park Clean Up

2016 Sacramento, California, USA

For this year’s Caring for Our Watershed project, Molly Crofoot and Miana Muscat of The MET Sacramento focused on a park/pond area adjacent to their school. Their goal was to build on the success of past clean-up efforts, and organize more volunteers to thoroughly cover a greater area than previous efforts. The duo also expressed the possibility of building an annual, if not bi-annual tradition of involving their classmates as stewards of this park, as it is so close to their campus. To that end, Molly and Miana recruited approximately 30 volunteers to help with their clean-up event at Southside Park. Because they had so many volunteers, they split into groups for litter pick-up as well as invasive species removal. Molly and her classmates reported having a fun day in the field, and getting a lot accomplished. This clean-up was completed with perfect timing, as it was just before the Earth Day celebration was to be held at the park.