Student Research Reports

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Puerto Rico is an island that is frequently under the threat of natural disasters, which can cut out power and leave many people homeless or lacking everyday resources, such as potable drinking water. Our team, Aguarico, decided to find a solution for this problem. Using previous research and experience as motivation, we developed our research questions: (1) How can we create an effective and easily-accessible water filtration system to ensure safety of water quality for people in Puerto Rico who may not have everyday access to potable drinking water, especially after a natural disaster? And (2) What are the similarities and differences between a filtration system using coconut husks, charcoal, and sand and a filtration system using banana peels, sand, and cilantro in the context of coliform, enterococci, dissolved oxygen, nitrates, water transparency, and pH? Based on these questions, we dove into experimentation with the two filtration systems. We found that our first prototype was able to remove all enterococci, E.coli, and coliform bacteria from both city and irrigation water samples Our second prototype, on the other hand, left one unit of enterococci bacteria in irrigation water. We also ran testing using GLOBE protocols, and compared and analyzed our data using graphs and charts. Overall, we determined that, while our first filter, which implemented coconut husks, coconut charcoal, and sand was more effective in purifying water, our second filter, which utilized banana peel, cilantro, and sand was more practical and easy to build. Both of these filtration systems proved to have a broad range of capabilities and potential for use in the aftermath of natural disasters. In the future, we hope to provide more outreach in our community to raise awareness about the usefulness of a natural, affordable filtration system, helping those without access to safe drinking water.