Micro to Macro Water Pollution

Background Information

Hammerdirt came to the BIO-DESIGN for the REAL WORLD's Winter School with data on the macropollutants washing up on the local beaches in and around Montreux (CH). The data format conforms to international norms, and over two years, some patterns can be observed in the level of litter on the shores. The collaboration will be an exchange and complement to what is already on-going at Hammerdirt.
The presentation can be found here:

Aims

To answer: Does the presence of macropollutants on the shores of Lac Leman correlate with micropollutants (biological, chemical, particulate, etc.) in the lake water?

Brainstorm Results

brainstorm board

At Open Hackuarium #88, we came up with some initial ideas.

• Data Analysis

• Image analysis and machine learning to readily tabulate the macro-pollutants collected on the beach
• synching the above data with a phone application in the internationally accepted format
• Add lake existing data (lake current, meterology, etc.)

• Water collection and Analysis

• Standardizing Collection Methods
• Water chemistry testing - turbidity, pO2, pH,
• Microparticle counting - DIY
• Heavy metal analysis DIY equipment of BIODESIGN to be more robust - or
• Make a fluorescent plate reader for higher throughput (CAUTION: still need P1 to use bioreporters here)
• antibiotic resistant bacteria (CAUTION: we cannot amplify/concentrate possible pathogens)
• Fish diseases - ask Maison de la Rivière?

• Awareness Raising - Recycling

• Recycle plastics using the extruder and use it to 3D print objects
• Biodegradation with mycelium

Action Plans

• Hammerdirt collects some water samples for testing
• Rachel orders a coliform bacteria testing medium (done)
• Research what other relevant datasets are out there and document it