The problem with wastewater

The problem with wastewater

During Year 5, our class studied the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for the Primary Years Programme Exhibition.

The process started with familiarising ourselves with the goals. Luckily, I already had quite a good understanding but was interested to learn more. There are 17 goals that came into effect in 2016, including no poverty, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing and quality education, just to name a few. The goal I wanted to focus on was Goal 14 – Life Below Water: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development – because I have a big interest in the ocean.

Part of the Exhibition is coming up with a solution to a problem. The idea I had was about how could we stop wastewater from getting into our waterways. I wanted to fix the aftermath of wastewater treatment, which is ocean outfall (how treated wastewater is returned to the ocean), to be more sustainable. My dad has a friend at the University of Western Australia, Research Fellow Dr Bede Mickan, who is studying this as well. He had found that there were some dangerous chemical traces coming out of the Point Peron ocean outfall.

The first step of the Exhibition was to research my topic. I went to UWA to catch up with Dr Mickan. He is a world expert on treating waste materials like wastewater and urban waste for purposes of cleaning the environment. He gave me lots of information that I used in my report, which brings me to the second step: writing the report. I had to write a descriptive report filled with lots of information about my problem and how it affected the environment.

Benjamin and Preston Rogers (Year 3)

After completing the report, I was on to the stage of planning and building my Exhibition statement piece. I drew a few detailed plans, and after choosing the best one, I had to get the right materials to build my statement piece. For me, this consisted of spending many hours at Bunnings and sometimes guessing the size of a bit of pipe and working out how much I needed. My idea was to build a replica filter for the ocean outfall pipes using biochar (a charcoal type substance), which my dad helped me source. Biochar removes dangerous chemicals from wastewater before it reaches the ocean. Once the biochar has filtered the wastewater, it is used as a super fertiliser to grow trees and crops, capturing carbon. We are trying to help the environment.

It took many shots and many attempts to get the right amount of biochar, the right pump and pipes, and not get the biochar mixed into the water. This was very hard, and I easily spent nearly half of my building time perfecting this. Once I had finished my statement piece, it was time for us to present it to visiting audiences. Luckily, it was not too hard at the start because I got to present to the Junior School kids. But after I had finished with them, it was time for the real deal, the parents.

I really enjoyed the Exhibition showcase because the parents and other guests showed so much interest in my piece and asked me lots of questions. I enjoyed talking to them about my research because they really thought about the importance of my piece. They also found it very interesting. My favourite part of the Exhibition was the building. It was fun to design and create my statement piece. The Exhibition is quite different to regular schoolwork because it is challenging, real-life and rewarding.

Benjamin Bloch

Year 6