BlueDot

Water is an essential aspect of our food chain. Every plant and animal we eat requires water. It is a well-understood principle in biology that our food will absorb toxins in its cells using the same natural process that absorbs nutrients. We need fresh, clean water to keep our food sources safe. Many sources contribute to water pollution, such as industrial waste and rain runoff, but one of the most overlooked sources is rain runoff from roads. Every-time we drive, we are not only polluting the air but also the ground. A residue of oil left on the engine gets splashed into waterways and our food chain. These roads are known contributors to water pollution, but there has never been a solution to mitigate this disturbance. Our design uses natural models from filter feeders. A filter feeder has a unique design that creates a small vortex to clean its bristles continually. For these animals, this is a method of separating food from the water. We turn the concept upside down so we can extract clean water from that system. Even though the system will push the roadway pollution downstream, it’s a solution that is highly sustainable because the filter will never require cleaning and is only using freely available energy of water flowing into the farms. This freshwater which we call “the good stuff,” can be used for our food systems to produce toxin-free vegetables. Creating this highly sustainable system will help farmers market their products to be grown with toxin-free water.