Preserving Resources from Wastewater

• Fall Poster
• Winter Poster
• Spring Poster

• Fall Peer Review
• Winter Peer Review
• Spring Peer Review

Background

Water shortage has been a long running issue in the state of California. According to the U.S Drought Monitor, California has been experience a at an increasingly severe rate. We are simply wasting too much water. Most of our water consumption come from toilets, showers, and sink faucets. According to Water Research Foundation’s Residential Uses of Water Executive report, Americans use 30 gallons of water in toilets, 28 gallons of water in showers, and 25 gallons of water in faucets per house hold every day. Currently in the market, the only systems that reaclaim, filter, and reuse grey water are sold and implemented on a commercial scale. None of these systems are implemented and function on a residential scale.

Goal and Objectives

Our goal is to research and design a residential scaled filtration system to re-use residential greywater for household tasks (no consumption). Our objectives for this quarter include researching methods of natural filtration, selecting sensors and components for best efficiency and effectiveness, pinpointing location of implementation, completing bill of materials, and ultimately completing the design concept to create thee prototype system. For Winter Quarter, our goals focus more on the fabrication aspects which includes selecting the best concept to proceed with testing, ordering parts and materials, building system with respect to installation locations in house, and testing the system on a smaller scale before actually implementing into house. Finally, our Spring Quarter goals involves us installing the system on a full-scale set-up, making adjustments and revisions as necessary, making conclusions and addressing future goals based on our results, and lastly, prepare for the next academic year.

Innovation

Unlike the mechanical powered systems that are commercial implemented, our system will focus on a natural filtration system. Therefore, we will be reducing a lot of our expenses on material and devices. Our goal is to make this system eco-friendly, affordable and easy to assemble.

The Bigger Picture

If this design project yields successful results, we have successfully designed and implemented an eco-friendly water filtration system that can recycle grey water, which would ultimately conserve water on a residential scale.

Timeline

Budget

Subsystem Breakdown

none

• Fall Team Roster
• Winter Team Roster
• Spring Team Roster

• Project ID#

  MAE0087

• Course Code

  19276

• Project Type

  Research

• Field of Interest

  Sustainability, Sensors, Plant Biology

• Description

  Water is a scarce resource. The lack of clean water is already a problem for some populations, and, in the near future, it will become a major problem for many more populations. “Provide access to clean water” is one of the National Academy of Engineering’s 14 Grand Challenge that must be solved to fulfill a global vision of “continuation of life on planet, making our world more sustainable, safe, healthy, and joyful.” One estimate of household water usage is 80-100 gallons per person per day. Nearly ¾ of this water usage results in greywater from washing and other general indoor uses. There are examples of plant-based systems that filter water through different media. Even without taking such system to the level that they create potable water, such systems could substantially cut household water usage and also collect rain water. It is believed that an attractive system that can be easily retrofitted to existing plumbing has commercial value.

• Maximum Number of Students

  6

• Requirements

  Interview with faculty advisor.

• Additional Information

  Market research should be performed by the team in order to determine if there is room for a commercial product in this space.

• Contact Method

  email advisor