CWEA is proud to announce Visala Tallavarjula, a 9th grader from Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, CA as the California Stockholm Junior Water Prize winner, the most prestigious youth competition for water-related research. Her paper titled, Methods Based on Statistical Analysis to Improve Water Retention in Sub-surface Irrigation was chosen unanimously by the CWEA judging panel. Tallavarjula and 53 other students, representing a total of 47 states and Puerto Rico, competed in the national finals this past weekend at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.Visala Tallavarjula
ABSTRACTIn many different parts of the world including California and other arid states in the US, there is water shortage due to droughts. Subsurface irrigation is effectively used in drought ridden areas. The purpose of this experiment is to explore ways to improve further subsurface watering efficiency. Improved water retention leads to lower cost of pumping water. Reduced evaporation loss means more water availability for transpiration resulting in greater crop yield. Fine grain soils, like clay and silt, block water infiltration. In the small pores of fine soils, water is held strongly by adhesion forces. The water held by the soil stops additional water from passing through and infiltrate down. The idea of this work is to use the same principle in the reverse direction and show that the upward movement of water by evaporation can be blocked by fine grain top soil bed. The goal of the project is to develop a method that is simple and can be easily implemented using readily available materials in all regions including those in the developing world.
Other competition winners included the two U.S. runners up, Paige Brown (Maine) and Megan Lange (Ala.) who each received $1,000; and Sarayu Das (S.C.) who received the Bjorn von Euler Innovation in Water Scholarship Award.
In the United States, the Water Environment Federation and its Member Associations organize the regional, state, and national SJWP competitions with support from Xylem Inc., who also sponsors the international competition and the $1,000 Bjorn von Euler Innovation in Water Scholarship Award.
Shape Inc’s support for the SJWP competition will allow CWEA to advertise the program more widely to California high school students, provide travel support for the winner and allow the development of new competitions to promote interest among high school students about California’s water quality and water treatment technologies.
Shape Inc is a distributor of Xylem products here in California including their family of Flygt water and sewer pumps. Founded in 1979, Shape Incorporated is a manufacturer’s representatives firm dedicated to the municipal water and wastewater market, through engineered products and processes. Shape is partners with ITT Industries, one of the world’s largest premier pump manufacturers.