Photo by V. Miller
Jan. 26, 2005
Ammonia Pandemonia
Ammonia Pandemonia
Ana Christina Pedrajo, 14, Coral Gables, Fla.
Finalist, Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, 2004
Project background: When Ana learned that her home town was not part of the greater Miami sewer system but instead relied on septic tanks, she wanted to know what happened to all the wastewater. Did some of it leak into the ground and ultimately find its way into her city's beautiful canals and lakes, where it could harm fish and other animals?
Tactics and results: Ana mapped her city's septic tanks, identifying eight areas with between zero and eight septic tanks per acre.
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| Photo by V. Miller |
She sampled 500 milliliters of water from canals near each location. She resampled after two months of drought. She tested all the samples for ammonia.
Ana found that, during the rainy season, ammonia levels in locations with four or more septic tanks per acre exceeded federal standards. During the dry season, however, the ammonia levels in all areas skyrocketed, exceeding the federal standards by a factor of 100 or more.
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