— By Bill Ellett (ADEQ, Retired), Maya Teyechea (Tucson Water), Marla Odom (Montgomery & Associates) and Mike Block (Metro Water District, Retired)
On March 12th, AHS, with cooperative funding from the CAP and AHS Foundation, gave awards to deserving hydrologic and water projects at the annual Southern Arizona Science and Engineering Fair. A total of $700 was awarded to deserving K–12 students. This year, 2,145 projects were submitted.
- $25 Kindergarten: Group, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lulu Walker Elementary School — Blow that Water Away! This group conducted an experiment on what conditions cause the most water evaporation. They found that an uncovered bowl of water in front of a fan evaporated up to 350 mg faster than a covered bowl. The group discussed using covers or lids to lessen the effects of evaporation on pools or when water is scarce.
- 1st Grade $25: Levi Siemens, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Canyon View Elementary School — Effects of Acid Rain on Our Environment. This student researched the effects of acid rain and then conducted an experiment to show these effects.
- 2nd Grade $25: Ethan B. and Chacon Rath, Animal and Plant Sciences, Ironwood Elementary School — pH of Water and Fish Survival. These students researched what water pH levels were healthy for fish. They measured the pH of their fish tank and then went to various water bodies that had fish to see if the water was within healthy pH levels.
- 2nd Grade $25: Reese Casey, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Gowan Science Academy — Ice, Ice Maybe? This student used creative ways to measure the speed at which different solutions would melt.
- 3rd Grade $50: Blake Smith, Chemical Sciences, Innovation Academy — Time to Get Out of the Pool. This student studied the electrical conductivity of various types of solutions with the use of a homemade device. He found that pool water was a strong conductor of electricity and, therefore, it’s a good idea to get out of the pool during a thunderstorm.
- 4th Grade $50: Group, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Innovation Academy — Water Usage in the Arizona Desert. This project used water conservation education to see if it affected how much students would conserve water. They learned that they were able to reduce water use by 198 gallons in 1 month.
- 5th Grade $50: Keertana Konkimalla, BASIS Oro Valley — Ocean Express. This student investigated whether density currents, as observed in the ocean, could be recreated on a small scale to better understand how ocean currents form. The experiment created density currents using two separate methods: one with dyed saline vs. fresh water, and one with dyed warm vs. cold water. The experiment also featured a control trial in which both sets of dyed water were identical to demonstrate that, in the absence of salinity or heat variations, currents do not develop, and water thoroughly mixes.
- 5th Grade $50: Jake Chen, Mesquite Elementary School — What the Filter?!? This student investigated infiltration processes by varying the order of typical filtration media (gravel, sand, and charcoal) and determined whether the order of the media affected the filtered water quality.
- 5th Grade $50: Group, Energy and Environmental Engineering, Winifred Harelson Elementary School — Turn It Off. This classroom group of 30 students investigated the use of push-down faucets after noticing that some of the school’s faucets ran longer than a typical hand washing. They also noted that occasionally some required more than one push. They found that the school’s push faucets waste water rather than save it. The experiment piqued the group’s curiosity to investigate additional methodologies that they might utilize in the future, and the findings are prompting them to approach the school about looking into more efficient faucets.
- 6th Grade $50: Preston Stricker, Esperero Canyon Middle School — Water Temperature Stream Flow and Dissolved Oxygen (DO) in an Arizona Creek. This student investigated the relationships between water temperature and DO and between streamflow and DO. Water temperature and DO are two of the primary water conditions that allow for fish survival and reproduction. The project looked specifically at the endangered Gila Chub species. During the period of the study (winter), it was determined that water in Sabino Creek is consistently of a good enough quality for the Gila Chub to survive, but that temperatures are not consistently warm enough for them to reproduce in winter. Evaluating summer conditions is a proposed future extension of this project.
- 7th Grade $50: Alec Shepp, Khalsa Montessori School — Which Material Does Water Infiltrate Fastest? This student investigated the different factors that can affect the infiltration process using constructed soil columns. A variety of porous media was tested to determine properties affecting infiltration.
- $50 8th Grade: Leonardo Solis, Paulo Freire Freedom School–University — Making Water Cleaner with Soils. This project used soils from a bike trail, a water harvesting basin, and the Santa Cruz River channel and compared the amount of TDS removed as water was filtered through the various media and the rate of infiltration. The results showed that the Santa Cruz River sediment infiltrated the fastest but didn’t remove very much TDS. The retention basin soil removed the most TDS and infiltrated at an intermediate rate from the other two soil types.
- $100 High School: Robert Sierra and Zachary Sierra, Sahuaro High School — Observations of the Effect of Extruded Polystyrene Foam on the Amount of Water Evaporated. This project used various shapes and colors of polystyrene foam on a water surface to see which provided the highest reduction in evaporation. Foam painted black and in a triangular shape provided the greatest reduction in evaporation.
- $50 High School: Mila Padilla, Empire High School — Acid Rain, Acid Rain, Go Away. This project tested the response of bean plant growth to acid rain and compared it to the growth rate using distilled water. Both organic and inorganic bean plants and organic and inorganic soils were tested. Results showed that inorganic bean plants and acidic water (pH 5) provided the highest growth rate.
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