Water quality research wins student NRC award

A study into how well an urban carpark ‘rain garden’ cleans stormwater has earned a Whangarei student a $1000 Northland Regional Council award at the Central Northland Science and Technology Fair.

The project - ‘Storming Water’ - won 18-year-old Whangarei Boys High School student Scott Davies-Colley the Regional Council’s Consistent Excellence Award.

Scott investigated outgoing stormwater quality from the Whangarei Aquatic Centre’s carpark next to Hatea River, which incorporates a rain garden.

Rain gardens effectively filter runoff from impervious surfaces like carparks. They do this by collecting runoff in manmade depressions in the ground that are then filled with several layers of soil and typically planted with native species like rushes and low flaxes.

Scott says by comparing mineral levels, he found stormwater quality from the aquatic centre carpark was noticeably better than a similar carpark across the river.

The Year 13 (7th Form) student was one of 158 students from 12 schools around the wider Whangarei District competing with 131 entries at the New Zealand Refining Company-sponsored fair, now in its 32nd year.

The five-day event at Forum North in Whangarei ends on Friday (SUBS: Fri 27 August) and is organised by Central Northland science and technology teachers and experts.

Scott has been entering science fairs since he was 11 and has now won 10 awards, five of them this year alone. (In addition to this NRC award, he this week also won the fair’s Air/Water Environmental Study Award, best presentation Year 11 to 13, outstanding experimental technique Year 11 to 13 and a general class investigation achievement award Year 11 to 13.)
Regional Council Environmental Education Officer Susan Botting says she was once again impressed with the overall quality of the entries in this year’s fair.

The Regional Council prize contributes $1000 towards the cost of a student’s university studies and must be used within three years. Scott plans to add his NRC award money to accumulated previous science fair winnings to attend the University of Canterbury in Christchurch where he will study engineering.