Six students in grades two through nine had their water conservation-themed artwork selected by the Municipal Water District of Orange County as winners in the annual Water Awareness Poster-Slogan Contest. More than 800 original posters were submitted by students countywide. One of the students was a grand prize winner for her submission in the Digital Arts Contest.

“These students demonstrate the effectiveness of water education,” said IRWD Board President Mary Aileen Matheis. “It also shows that they understand the importance of water and using it wisely.”

IRWD participates in the MWDOC contest every year and in a poster contest sponsored by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. IRWD has a consistent record of students being honored by both organizations.

Winning the grand prize in the digital arts contest was Andrea Zhang, a ninth grader at Northwood High School.  She used an Adobe Photoshop program to paint her picture, starting from a blank canvas. She won a Kindle Fire.

Winning in the poster category were:

• Aarya Padhye, second grade, Springbrook Elementary
• Max Schoeneberger, fifth grade, La Madera Elementary
• Yasmin Lissa Fukushima, second grade, Tustin Ranch Elementary
• Arlana May, fifth grade, Santiago Hills Elementary
• Matthieu Huy, fourth grade, Foothill Ranch Elementary

An awards ceremony was held at the Discovery Science Center on May 30.

For more information about IRWD education programs, please visit our website.

Four Irvine students were honored at the May 29 Irvine Ranch Water District Board of Directors meeting for their water-related science fair projects. Their projects were judged by members of the IRWD Water Quality Laboratory staff during the February 29 science fair at University High School.

“These projects are exemplary,” said Board President Mary Aileen Matheis, who assisted in distributing certificates to the students.

Board member Peer Swan agreed, saying, “Hats off to all of you.”

IRWD has participated in the Irvine Unified School District’s science fair since it began more than 20 years ago. The process begins in the fall with Ask-a-Scientist Night. IRWD staff from Water Quality and the Engineering departments are on-hand to answer questions students might have about potential science fair projects, and to offer assistance.

The day of the science fair, IRWD staff members look for water-related projects from the hundreds submitted, then they are judged based on the use of the scientific method, creativity, relevance, completeness of research and evidence of problem solving.

The students each receive a certificate and IRWD donates $100 in honor of each student to their respective schools for the purchase of books or science equipment. In addition, $100 is donated to the school district to support the science fair.

Winners this year included:

Gopal Vashishtha, 9^th grade, University High School, “The Effect of Manufactured Nanoscale Zinc Oxide on Filtration Rate and Particle Size Distribution in Membrane Biological Reactor Systems in the Wastewater Treatment Process.” Gopal set out to find the effect of elevated manufactured nanoparticle concentration, specifically zinc oxide, on filtration rate and particle distribution in Membrane Biological Reactors, or MBR, in the wastewater treatment process. To note, many popular and effective sunscreens contain nano-zinc oxide. It is thought that this type of material eventually fouls membrane filters, resulting in higher operational costs. He conducted his research using tap water and wastewater samples he received from IRWD. After various tests and experiments, he found that all three types of nanoscale zinc oxide types he used caused tap water flux to vary and the differences between the three used with secondary effluent to be imperceptible. Gopal’s project went on to county competition, where he received an Honorable Mention, then to state competition, where he received a Second Place.

Elizabeth Chang, 6^th Grade, Plaza Vista School, “Evaporating Waters.”  Elizabeth asked the question – will different liquid evaporate at different rates? She used water, alcohol, corn syrup, oil and milk and hypothesized that water would evaporate quicker. She looked up the boiling and freezing points, and vaporization points for each. Her experiment was conducted over nine days. She took measurements every other day.  At the conclusion, she found that alcohol actually evaporated the quickest, with water being a close second.

Zach Howard, 6^th grade, Oak Creek School, “Where are the Highest Bacteria Levels, the Back Bay, Newport Harbor, or Newport Beach?”  Zach said he believed that water from Newport Harbor would contain the highest bacteria counts because of boat pollution in the harbor, excess waste from homes and other non-point sources. In order, he believed that bacteria levels would be high in San Diego Creek, higher in the Back Bay, with the lowest at Newport Beach. His interest was spurred from past participation in the Newport Beach Junior Lifeguard program. He took samples from seven different areas and used Petri dishes, monitoring the bacteria growth daily. The conclusion was that the Back Bay source, the Eastbluff storm drain, had the highest concentration of bacteria.

Louis Primeau, 6^th grade, Turtle Rock School, “Effect of Elevated CO2 on the Growth of Freshwater Algae.” Louis set out to find out what rising CO2 levels brought on by climate change means for the environment. He collected water from the Mason Park and to obtain algae cells and grew the algae in four bottles with plenty of nutrients and light. In two bottles, he bubbled extra CO2 and the other two bottles were used as controls. At the end of his experiment, Louis concluded that adding CO2 to algae resulted in faster grown than without adding CO2. However, there was much variability in the growth rate on a day-to-day basis, making the results uncertain. Louis’ project went on to the county competition, where he received a third place award and continued on to statewide competition.

For more information about IRWD educational programs, please visit our website.

The El Toro High School’s Solar Cup team was partially lucky in its seventh year of competition – it qualified to race in the endurance category, but steering problems arose during qualifying for the sprint portion.

“The team went to the hardware store to find a replacement part, but couldn’t fix it in time for re-qualifying,” said teacher and El Toro Engineering Club adviser Doug Ford. Overall, he said, the team was happy it could participate in the endurance race. Despite this setback, team members remained positive.

Solar Cup, sponsored by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, celebrated its 10^th year. The event is a seven-month program in which students build, equip and race a 16-foot single-seat canoe-type boat powered only by the sun. Races were held from May 18 to 20 at Lake Skinner in Riverside County. Each team must compete in two 90-minute, 1.4-kilometer endurance races and in sprints down a straight 200-meter course.

Qualifying took place on Friday of the three-day event. While El Toro’s skipper was able to negotiate the boat during the endurance qualifying, he indicated steering was giving him some trouble. The skipper for the sprint couldn’t keep the boat on course and it was later determined a critical piece has broken inside the drive train.

Bad luck bedeviled the team for the past two years – the first year was a drive train problem and last year, a brand new engine seized up and died.

Still, the students learned valuable lessons on engineering, problem solving, water resources, resource management, conservation and alternative energy development.  And, the weather cooperated with plenty of sun to power the solar panels on the boats.

For more information about our educational programs, please visit our website.

Contact: Shannon Reed, Public Affairs Manager
reeds@irwd.com, (949) 453-5500

For the past 20 years, Irvine Ranch Water District and the Sea and Sage Audubon Society have enjoyed a unique partnership. In 1992, Sea and Sage was offered the use of an old bunkhouse at that would become the San Joaquin Marsh, in exchange for providing educational programs for the community.

“Twenty years of developing a wonderful nature experience for adults and children – I have loved every minute of it,” said Trude Hurd, Project Director of Marsh Education for Sea and Sage, who has been a part of the program since the beginning. “This has been the perfect place for Sea and Sage to engage more than 50,000 adults and children in personal experiences with nature.”

During the school year, Audubon and the Discovery Science Center conduct educational school field trips. But during the summer, things don’t slow down at the marsh – it becomes an exciting hub of activity for all ages.

The Marsh Learning Center is the center of much of this activity, with summer camp taking place in both rooms. Sea and Sage is hosting its array of Marsh and Bird camps, while the Discovery Science Center is hosting Summer Smiles and Project Discovery camps.

At night, discover a different environment at the Marsh, by participating in a bat walk. The evening begins with an indoor presentation by a local bat biologist. Then a walk is led to see the bats feed in the Marsh.

At the end of this month, July 28, Sea and Sage will hold its annual Summer Barbecue. This celebration features dining under the stars with a program, “Wild Flowers of Orange County and the Santa Ana Mountains” by local photographer and biologist Bob Allen. There will also be a book sale and after dinner, evening bird walks. At nightfall, enjoy stargazing in the meadow with telescopes, or a bat walk through the marsh.

On August 25 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., join IRWD and Sea and Sage, as we celebrate our 20-year partnership. A Marsh bird walk will be held at 8:30 a.m. and a special presentation at 10 a.m. Take a walk through the butterfly garden and enjoy the native plants that make the Marsh their home. Displays will be set up, including microscopes for viewing creatures that live in the Marsh ponds. Get an up-close look at live raptors and colorful taxidermy bird specimens. Play games and enjoy celebratory cake and ice cream.

More information about environmental programs and Marsh is available on our website.