Today I was thinking about my overall experience with my 20% project. I met my goal of completing the project; building a water recycling device made from a rain barrel and various drip system parts, and I was able to make a DIY presentation with a link to pinterest (this can be found below). I have really enjoyed working with my mentor (my Dad) and am proud of my work. It will help my family be able to do something to reduce our water usage during this time of drought. I also learned some new skills while putting my project together; I learned how to put pvc together, how to put together drip systems, and a little bit about how our particular swamp cooler works. During this project I have also learned that it is really important when one is planning a project like mine, to measure carefully and to have a good idea of what you plan to water so you can place your system accordingly. I do wish I would have had more time allotted for this project. I feel like I could have fine-tuned my water recycling device a bit better. I would have played with different elevations for water pressures, maybe try different shapes of rain barrels to see if that made a difference in water pressure, or tried a pump in the system to pump the water out of the barrel.  I would have really liked to have had a good month after completion of my project to be able to observe and document just how much water it collects and therefore saves. I will continue with this project on my own time this summer and do just that. I plan to measure just how much water is collected per day and at the end of a month, and see just how much water would have been wasted but now has been recycled. I also think it would be a neat idea to talk to others in my community and see if I can find a few people to build a water recycling device, like the one I put together. It would be great to have them give me feedback on their experience building it using my directions and how much water they were able to recycle. A DIY brochure handed out at our local farmers market may be something that I could do to help me find people that would be willing to try my project.

     This link below is to a presentation I have put together outlining how to build a water recycling device of your own. I have tried to make it as clear and concise as possible.

DIY Brochure

      I hope my work on this project will be beneficial to others and help them be able to conserve water and recycle water that would have otherwise been wasted. It is so important that we all do our part in helping our own communities be aware of our water usage and how much water is actually wasted when it could be recycled and used to do other things, like watering a garden.

     Tonight I want to tell you a story, the story of The Magic Rain Barrel.
     Once upon a time there was a beautiful kingdom ruled by a good king and queen. Their son, Prince Riley, devised a plan to...oh wait, back story! The kingdom had been blessed with many years of plenty. The land was like a quilt of emeralds and peridots. farms produced much food and flowers, the people were happy. One bright and sunny day, Prince Riley was out riding his trusty steed, Cronus. As he and the giant, black, horse rode over the beautiful, lush, green hills, the clouds began to gather and thunder rolled in the distance. Prince Riley pulled back on the reins and slowed Cronus, he felt that something strange had come into the land.
     What Prince Riley suspected was true. A strange sorceress had entered the kingdom. Wherever she traveled strange things began to happen; creeks began to dry up leaving the fish to die in the dry creek bed, crops dried up over night, wildflowers drooped their heads and died. Her path led directly to the capital and the palace. The people began to be afraid, they had never known such evil. A fortnight after the day the clouds began to gather, she strode into the darkened court yard of the palace. As the clock tolled the midnight-hour, she struck the paving stones with her great staff and quietly pronounced a curse upon the land throughout the kingdom. There would be no rain, drought would come upon the land. Creeks and streams would run dry, wells would have no water, the green landscape would turn to dust. She left the court yard just as quietly as she had entered. But first she looked up at the balcony overlooking the gate and then she vanished into the darkness.
      Prince Riley had been unable to sleep that night. He was worried about the evil that seemed to be infecting the land. As the sorceress entered the court yard he watched from his balcony, high above the paving stones. He watched as she pronounced her curse on his kingdom. When she moved to leave he thought to shout for his guards but he stopped, unable to speak as her evil gaze met his. She vanished. Prince Riley called for his guards but she was gone, never to be seen again.
     Now we are back to where we started. Prince Riley devised a plan to help his kingdom survive the drought. He was going to create a magic barrel. The Prince went to his father, the king, and asked for his guidance and wisdom in the creation of this barrel. They sat down together and discussed Prince Riley's plan. The king thought it was a great plan and they began to make a list of what materials they would need to build such a marvel. They traveled to all the far corners of the kingdom searching for the perfect rain barrel, for lengths of pvc pipe, various joints and fittings, soaker hose, flag emitters, and a rare, mystical, battery powered timer. The Prince would also send a proclamation to the people of the kingdom each week to keep them informed about how the magic barrel project was coming along. When all of the needed materials were acquired, the Prince and the king called for the dwarves who lived and worked in the magic mines. They were to build the magic barrel.
     The pipes were attached to the swamp cooler of the palace using the pvc pipe and glue. The pipe traveled down the roof to the barrel which was placed on Prince Riley's balcony. The rare and mystical battery powered timer would be attached to the valve on the bottom of the barrel to control the flow of water out of it. An in-line filter would  be fitted to the timer connecting the soaker hose to the source of the water. Flag emitters would be attached to the soaker hose and placed near the base of plants throughout the garden so that it would remain green and provide food for the palace kitchens. The plan that would soon come to fruition in the form of the magic barrel was one that would prevent wasting what precious water they had. The water from the swamp cooler would be collected in the magic barrel and stored there until it was needed to water the garden. Once the magic had been perfected, Prince Riley would send his faithful knights into all the land spreading the plans and directions on how to build ones own magic barrel, in the form of a pin on pinterest,
   The wonderous day soon arrived, the magic barrel was complete! The king and Prince Riley called upon their most trusted adviser to come and review Prince Riley's project. He worked for days on his power point presentation so that his adviser would be well pleased. He put on his finest garments and brought his presentation to her. She approved of Prince Riley's plan and gave her blessing upon his endeavor. The king was proud and called upon his knights and asked them to take the joyous news, as well as Prince Riley's link to his pin on pinterest, to every house in the kingdom. The people rejoiced upon hearing the news! There were ways to recycle the water they used to keep cool, to water their own gardens!  
     Prince Riley continued to send out proclamations telling the people the story of how his magic barrel all began. The king and queen were glad they could enjoy their son's ingenuity. The kingdom was once again happy. The people had to be careful to conserve their water, but they no longer worried about keeping their gardens watered.

                                                                   The End

     I hope you have enjoyed this fairy tale based on my process of building my water recycling device. 

     Good evening. Tonight I wanted to bring up, well,  really the whole reason for my building my water recycling device. That reason is to keep the precious resource of water from being unnecessarily wasted. Water is necessary for all life on earth, it is a very valuable resource. Currently the state of California is in its' fourth year of drought, we are experiencing one of the worst droughts in the area's history. As you can see from this map that I sourced from the USDA web site, a large area of California is in a state of exceptional drought and much is in a state of extreme drought. It is so very important that people in California and other areas conserve and recycle as much water as possible.

     California alone produces more than half of the United State's fruits, nuts, and vegetables. It is very important for each and every person who lives in California to do what they can to help their communities and their nation by being aware of their water usage and not to use it wastefully. It is easy to conserve and recycle water. Some practical ways to do that are; turning the water faucet off while brushing your teeth, don't fill your water glass all the way up only fill it half way, you are more likely to dump water left in your glass once it gets warm or after a meal, water your lawn or garden in the early morning when it is cool and the water can soak into the ground with minimal evaporation, only run your washer or dryer when they are full, plant plants that are natives to the area, they are more likely able to handle the dry conditions California often experiences, use compost in your garden, it adds water-holding organic matter the soil, and the method that I chose to use at my home for my project, collecting water run-off from swamp coolers or gutters and redirecting it toward trees or plants. Small changes in one's water using habits can add up to a big savings in the amount of water used and on your water bill as well.
     Recently the state of California announced water restrictions that will be imposed on the counties and cities of the state in an effort to conserve water to be used for necessities and agriculture. Incorporating some easy water saving routines into your daily life can not only help your community but also your country have the water we need for the basics, water to drink, wash, water food crops, and water food animals. It will also help keep your home in compliance with the new state regulations regarding water usage and avoid any fines associated with going over the set limits.
     For these reasons and more, I decided to build my water recycling device. I wanted to do my part and help others in my community do their part to conserve our dwindling water supply. What we do to conserve water on a daily basis can make a difference to others in our community, the wild animals in your area if you live in a rural setting, and ultimately on the nation's food supply. Here are some other web sites that can be helpful in finding out ways to conserve water in your home and on your land.

eartheasy.com/live_water_saving.htm

www.groundwater.org/action/home/conserve.html

http://planetsave.com/2009/03/20/10-simple-ways-to-conserve-water/

     Please join me and others in your community in being wise in the use of our precious resource of fresh water. It is so important to every living thing on the planet, how can we excuse the unnecessary wasting of something so valuable?

     This afternoon I wanted to blog about how my 20% project is going, a progress report of sorts. So far my mentor and I have met and discussed how we want the water recycling device to work, we have discussed the science behind how it will work, and what the different options are as far as materials we could choose to build it with. My mentor and I met earlier today and took various measurements on our roof and down to our rain barrel, which will be the reservoir for our captured water from the swamp cooler. We then went to the local hardware stores and purchased some of our supplies. At the hardware stores we purchased two 10 ft. lengths of white pvc pipe, eight white pvc 90 degree joints, one hose adapter, c batteries for the timer we will be using, an in-line filter that will be used in the irrigation system, and a package of stakes to hold the main line of the irrigation system. We ordered our rain barrel from amazon.com and we got it a few days ago. The rain barrel is a 50 gallon barrel that has a spigot at the bottom center and has a rectangle cut out on the top to allow the captured water from the swamp cooler in. It has a wire screen that will allow the water into the barrel but keep larger debris and insects from getting in. I thought is was very important when shopping for a rain barrel for this project, that it have some sort of screen that would not allow insects, mainly mosquitoes, into the barrel where they could lay eggs and have their larvae grow.

   

     Later on today we will be working on attaching a piece of new pvc pipe to the existing pvc pipe coming down the roof from the swamp cooler and redirecting the flow of water from the swamp cooler through the new pipe and into the rain barrel. We are still discussing how to install the in-line filter, we may have to raise the rain barrel up on a stand or blocks in order for it to fit. The spigot on the rain barrel is very low on the barrel, which is a good thing when doing something that is gravity powered, but the in-line filter needs room below the spigot while not going through the wood deck.
     So far this project has been easy to work on. I am enjoying working with my mentor (my dad), going through the designing process, and learning some of the science behind how this water recycling device will work. It is easy to enjoy this project when my mentor is very knowledgeable about the subject and is excited about the project itself. He really loves building stuff like this. My mentor is really good at going step by step through the processes that play a part in the construction of my device and explains the science behind it clearly and in a way that makes it fun.
   

     Today I am blogging about my mentor, Andy Pence. He is not only my mentor but he is also my dad. I asked him if he would be my mentor because he is an engineer and has experience and knowledge that will help me with my particular project. I enjoy working on projects with my dad so he was an obvious choice for my mentor for this assignment. This week I interviewed my dad so that my readers could get to know a little bit about him and his abilities that make him a good mentor for my project.

Riley: "What is your name?:
Mr. Pence: "My name is Andy Pence."
Riley: "What is your job title?"
Mr. Pence: "My job title is Senior Engineer."
Riley: "What is your workplace?"
Mr. Pence: "Trinity County Road Department."
Riley: "What are your job responsibilities that may be related to our project?"
Mr. Pence: "My job responsibilities that may be related to the project include designing and managing road projects that sometimes include,,um,,,landscaping or environmental mitigation where we plant plants and have to figure out how to water them over..ah...extended periods of time especially during the period where the plants are establishing themselves. A lot of times we do plant establishment for..ah... areas that have no water source or at least nothing really close by, so a lot of times we use water tanks, or we have used water tanks in the past, and drip irrigation-type devices to water plants using gravity."
Riley: "Where did you go to school?"
Mr. Pence: " I went to school at California Polytechnic State University, or Cal Poly, in San Luis Obispo."
Riley: "What was your major?"
Mr. Pence: "My major was agricultural engineering."
Riley: "What degree do you have?"
Mr. Pence: "Agricultural engineering...ah..a Bachelor of Science in agricultural engineering."
Riley: "What did you study in school that would pertain to my project?"
Mr. Pence: "I had to take several classes about irrigation and irrigation methods and design. I also took classes on fluid dynamics and hydrology. I am sure that there were many other things that I studied that will be related to what we are doing in this project."
Riley: "What do you think of this project? Do you think this project will help our community?"
Mr. Pence: "I think it is a good idea to save water. I think that a lot of the water from the swamp cooler goes to waste just by running off into the weeds, at least at our house, and I am sure at other people's locations that...ah... have swamp coolers similar to ours, the water goes to waste running into a location that probably gets too much water or by simply soaking into the ground. So I think this project will help the community if we are able to successfully come up with a method to spread that water out...the excess water, to places that need it."
Riley: "Ok, what do you see as steps we need to take for this project? Like pricing out parts and design."
Mr. Pence: "Oh yah, first you need to price out the major components and in order to make a pamphlet describing how to do it we need to build your water recycling device and we should have pictures of everything necessary...um... all of the necessary parts to build it, then we need to have or we need to design a kind of guide that shows how to assemble everything and have different ideas of what someone could do. Part of that would require pictures so we should build your device at our house and that way we get experience putting it together and we can then pass that experience on to other people by creating the pamphlet we are going to do. Let's see..supplies...um...we are going to need PVC pipe to run down from the roof, from the swamp cooler down the roof, down the side of the house, to the rain barrel we are going to capture and store the water in. We would then need some way to distribute that water. To do it by using gravity probably one of the best ways to do it would be using the...ah...small diameter drip hose or soaker hose and a drip system. So we have to figure how to plug that all into the bottom of the barrel; however the drip hose and the soaker hose will probably get plugged pretty easy, so if there is any debris in the water or in the system, or really even in the air that can get into the barrel, then we have to somehow filter that out before it gets into the drip system. That means we need to install a filter that will keep the water or...ah...the larger contaminants from plugging up the drip system. I think once we figure that all out we will just take some pictures and be able to make a pamphlet using some kind of software...we will have to figure out that software too...Microsoft Publisher would be ideal but there are other alternative software packages that we could use to do that as well."

     I think my dad has some very good ideas about how to go about designing and building my water recycling device. He has much experience with the building of irrigation systems that will be very helpful in the building of my project. As a senior engineer he has experience overseeing projects like mine and keeping the work on track. I think that having my dad as my mentor on this project will be a great experience and I will enjoy designing and building my water recycling device with him.            

     My project is to help my community not waste water. The products that I will have to show at the end of the year will be a water recycling device that will collect water as it drains from a swamp cooler in a water barrel and then divert it through pipes into soil around plants. I will also produce an instructional pamphlet or booklet that will explain how to make said device on your own to collect and reuse water drained from your swamp cooler. I think this project would benefit my community very much. During this time of drought, it is a complete waste of water to allow so much water to drain into the ground benefiting no one. Most people in my community have swamp coolers that use water to cool their homes during the hot, dry summer months. These swamp coolers drain many gallons of water every three to five hours, usually through a pipe down the roof and onto the ground. My device will allow this water to be captured and recycled  to water plants around people's homes. Overall, this would reduce the amount of water used to water plants in yards all over my community and prevent the waste of this water simply soaking into the ground.

     This project will include a water recycling device and a instructional pamphlet or booklet. There will be expenses for the barrel, hardware, and parts that will be required to build my water collector and recycling device. I also anticipate the instructional booklet to have some expense involved in the printing of it. My wonderful investors, Mr. and Mrs. Pence, have graciously offered to cover all expenses involved in this project.  My water recycling device will more than likely be constructed from a water barrel, miscellaneous tubing and hose, hose fittings, as well some valves. I am sure there will be some changes in design as I build this project in order to get it just right. I will be able to obtain all of my needed parts and supplies from our local Do It Center as well as Ace Hardware.
   
     I have decided to work by myself on this project. Since I live so far away from the school and the other students, it makes more sense to work at home without a group. I have asked my dad to be my mentor. He is a senior civil engineer for Trinity County and has a B.S. in agricultural engineering. His degree and training make him especially qualified to help and guide me on this particular project.

     The project that I am proposing to build to help my community waste less water, is a water recycling device that would collect and reuse water drained from swamp coolers to water flowers or gardens all over Trinity County. This device would be something simple that others in my community could build on their own using my instructional booklet, allowing them to recapture water and reuse it. I have secured funding through two very supportive investors which will allow me to be able to obtain all required parts, hardware and supplies to build my project. My mentor, my dad, has special qualifications, knowledge, and experience that makes him a perfect person to help me design and build my water recycling device. I think I will enjoy the process of designing and building this project, it will help my family as well as others in my community do their part in reusing and recycling our precious resource of water in a way that helps the whole community.