Greywater Recycling for Hydroponic Agriculture
Josie Barber & Mason Sufnarski
This project employs a method of low-cost greywater recycling and hydroponic agriculture to address resource management challenges.
Josie & Mason's Story
WHO
Josie is a high school senior from Mercer Island, Washington, and Mason is an undergraduate at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
WHAT
In their project, Josie and Mason developed a novel, low-cost device that can recycle greywater for hydroponic agriculture. Employing the Human-Centered Design Process, Josie and Mason first evaluated the efficacy of using organic materials for low-cost greywater filtration. They supplemented this research with experimental tests on lettuce plants to investigate the feasibility of the "Kratky Method" of hydroponic agriculture. After this, they finalized a prototype and are currently pursuing a Provisional Patent for their work.
WHY
Josie and Mason were inspired by the water-scarcity problem in South Africa, an issue Josie has become familiar with during visits to see her grandparents. However, they realize their work is applicable to every low-income, water-scarce country, which is an end-user population of 2.7 billion people.
WATCH
DONATE
Use the form below to submit a donation for Josie & Mason's project! Funds will assist Josie and Mason during their pursuit to find investors for the device to permit scaling and eventual commercialization for end-users.
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