Project

This first six weeks Passion Project didn’t go exactly as I planned. When I first came up with my idea to focus on water pollution, I thought that it would be a quick process. Thinking back time was my biggest constraint this six weeks. I had originally planned on finishing the whole project this six weeks.

That didn’t work out however because of the fact that it takes 2 weeks for the water sample results to come in. After I figured that out I changed my approach to this 6 weeks. I decided that I would present a timeline with my plan for the experiments this 6 weeks, and then conduct the experiments in the next 6 weeks.

The hardest part of the project was probably getting the water samples. One of the samples was easy to get as I could walk to the pond behind my house, but the other was more difficult as I had to drive to get it. Sending the water samples in to the Ag Center was also difficult because it was hard to find someone local who could test the water.

The easiest part of the project was probably the research because I found tons of great resources without having to hunt around much. If I had a do-over of my project I would probably plan for the water samples taking longer to process, instead of trying to rush and get it all in during this 6 weeks.

My favorite part of the project was definitely being able to fish when I collected my water samples. This project taught me that I am more creative than I give myself credit for. I learned how other people don’t really care to judge you as that was one of my fears going in to the gallery walk. The next part of my project is to continue the experiments in to the next 6 weeks and see where it takes me.

Thanks for reading, Trace.

For this first 6 weeks my passion project was on water pollution.  There are many different forms of water pollution but I chose Agricultural Runoff.  I chose this particular form of pollution because in my past couple of times fishing in one of my local ponds I noticed that there was a build up of algae growth.

It seemed that every time I casted, I reeled in about 10 pounds of the algae.  So when I had to decide on an issue I wanted to fix, I decided on this.  I researched what causes excess algae growth and learned that when it rains, fertilizers can be swept up in the runoff and be deposited into waterways.

This introduces chemicals that can encourage excess algae growth.  In can result in ponds looking like this.

This is an example of an algal bloom or algae bloom. When algae grows over the surface like this it can block sunlight out from the fish and plants that grow underwater.

So I decided to do something about it.  My driving question is, “How can I experiment and figure out a way to limit agricultural runoff effects in freshwater areas of water?”.

My plan on how I am going to accomplish this is through an experiment. In my research I came across several sources that talked about how activated charcoal can “soak up” some of the chemicals found in fertilizers.

I am going to conduct several experiments on the water from 2 local ponds.  I collected one sample of water for a base test by not altering the water in any way. I called this Test #1. I sent the water to the Pitt County Ag Center where they are currently testing to find the different amounts of chemicals in the water.  I will then use activated charcoal to see what levels go up and what levels go down.  I called this Test #2.

After Test #2 I am going to introduce fertilizers to the water and then add activated charcoal to see if the chemicals can be soaked up. I’ll call this Test #3. One of the big obstacles I am facing is that it takes 2 weeks for the water to be tested and for the results to get back. For that reason I am not going to meet my SMART goal this six weeks and am going to change it so that I present my plan this six weeks and I can experiment in the next six weeks.

Thanks for reading about the intro to my Passion Project.

Trace