This past weekend, Deepika Kurup of Nashua (N.H.) High School received the prestigious U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize for her project “A Novel Photocatalytic Pervious Composite for Degrading Organics and Inactivating Bacteria in Wastewater.” Kurup was selected from 48 state SJWP winners during the national competition and received $10,000 and an all-expense paid trip to Stockholm, Sweden, where she will represent the United States in the international competition.
Kurup’s research project attempts to develop a safe, cost-effective and eco-friendly technique for wastewater purification. According to the abstract, the methodology integrates an “enhanced photocatalytic advanced oxidation process with filtration using novel pervious composites,” which reduced coliform bacteria by 98 percent. Subsequent exposure of the filtered water to sunlight inactivated the remaining coliform.
Runners-up for the SJWP award included:
- Bluyé DeMessie, William Mason High School, Mason, Ohio, for his research “Developing a Sustainable Water Cleaning System for Use in Rural Areas of Low Income Countries.”
- Zachary Loeb, Viera High School, Melbourne, Fla., for his project, "Preventing the Global Reproductive Failure of Aquatic Life Through the Catalytic Treatment of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds in Municipal Waste Water."
- Jack Andraka and Chloe Diggs, North County High School, Glen Burnie, Md., received the Bjorn von Euler Innovation in Water Award, which recognizes students who demonstrate a unique passion for education and awareness of sustainable water management.
To read the winning research project, visit www.sjwp.org.
Water and wastewater research also received recognition at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles on May 11-16. There, 1,700 high school students from 70 countries presented innovative, world-changing ideas, competing for more than $5 million in scholarships.
Among those honored were Lewis Nitschinsk of Australia, whose research centered around harvesting phosphorus from wastewater treatment plants to use as fertilizer, and Hans Pande of Utah, who developed an affordable solar-powered water purification device that uses UV light to clean drinking water at a rate of 3 gpm. Each received $2,500 from Arizona State University’s Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives.
To read more about these awards, visit http://sustainabilitysolutions.asu.edu/news-and-events/.
