Clean Water Challenge

This challenge is about cleaning up Denver, CO waterways. The two main issues are Phosphorus and E. coli contamination. The students from the Colorado School of Mines' goal is to clean up E. coli from the Cherry Creek as best as possible. The team overcome many obstacles to clean the river to be safer for the public and for recreational use.

Video Background

Testing

First the team had to test for E. coli that contaminates the water. To do this Loic and Kayla extracted some water samples to test at a lab. In the lab they tested the E. coli count.

Design

Throughout our time and research E. coli was very high during the summer months and we wanted our design to clean the E. coli effectively for recreational use. As a team we went through countless design until we reacted a verdict to use a UV Light Treatment in the river.

Treatment

UV or ultraviolet light is a type of radiation. In simple terms, when bacteria or another type of microbe is directly exposed to certain types of UV light, the DNA (its fundamental building block) of the cell is damaged, preventing it from replicating. If a cell cannot reproduce, then the cell cannot cause infection, which is how UV light kills bacteria. - UV Water System.com

Outcome - Final Design

This final design will take water from the South Platte River and run it through the UV system. During the process the UV light is attacking the E. coli therefore when the water comes back out there is no E. coli left. This design may be small but it is mighty; the future plan for this project is to have many of these UV light systems in different storm drains and outfalls. Therefore, the river is thoroughly clean for recreational use.