High-Level Project Summary
RAKSHA-BIOMAGNIFICATION AND EUTROPHICATION Biomagnification is the accumulation of toxic chemicals by an organism from water and food exposure. Due to this humans are prone to harmful diseases like cancer, kidney failure and other birth defects. Eutrophication is the runoff from land into the water bodies which causes the death of aquatic life due to lack of oxygen. SOLUTION-To devise a treatment plan that follows various stages from monitoring the toxicity levels to elimination of the harmful substances. We're also working on chemical methods to treat the contaminated water.Superhero Raksha has the power to absorb all the hazardous elements from the water bodies.
Link to Project "Demo"
Link to Final Project
Detailed Project Description
The main objective of our project is to eradicate Biomagnification and Eutrophication.
Our superhero Raksha's power is to absorb the toxic chemicals and save our environment.
It benefits our Earth by making our environment clean from pollution and save our aquatic life which is the major part of our planet.
Eutrophication is the runoff from land into the water bodies which causes the death of aquatic life due to lack of oxygen. It happens when the water bodies are overly enriched with nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous.
Elimination of eutrophication is done by treating the water bodies and by controlling the phytoplankton (by removing secondary consumers), physical mixing and controlling the food web ecosystem.
Biomagnification is one of the main problems faced by Earth today. This problem is due to the accumulation of toxic substances due to industrial wastes by aquatic organisms and passed to higher tropic levels i.e. to man. We can help by Elimination of the use of some heavy metals, Cleaning of contaminated locale, Role of institutions using toxic substances, Be cautious about using treated wood, Watch out for the lead paints and Avoid usage of the PVC. Our superhero Raksha helps use by absorbing the toxic substances.
These two problems are directly involved with the disruption of food chain which is an issue of great concern. Every year there is a significant loss of biodiversity and fisheries. We believe that our project certainly addresses these issues and that the solution we have devised would benefit everyone.
We hope to devise a treatment plan with various stages from measuring and monitoring the toxicity to spreading awareness about the seriousness of this problem.
We have made use of a graphic design platform named Canva to electronically create our superhero. This also helped us to make our project visually impressive.
Space Agency Data
We have made use of lot of resources from NASA and other open space agency data. The Ecology of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) article, updated on 20th September, 2021 helped us a lot with the study of Algae attack on water bodies. We got information from the article about Satellites on Toxic Algae Patrol from NASA, where the issues of polluted water bodies has been highlighted. They also mentioned about how the satellites tracked the algal blooms on the surface of the water. We also referred the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website to analyze the effects of biomagnification and its impact on the environment. We have analyzed the research works in Open Edu on eutrophication which inspired us to choose this topic and spread awareness on the importance of this problem. The articles published on The National Geographical Media regarding solutions to eliminate biomagnification helped us to conclude our project. All these resources made us realize the importance of this and instilled a drive in us to find a proper solution to this problem. The bibliography and citations are given below under the References column.
Hackathon Journey
As responsible citizens of tomorrow, we have decided to take up this task of Creating a Super-Power for Mother Earth to save it from impending disaster of rapid deterioration of our Environment. We had a great time working together as a team as we all shared the passion of saving our Planet. Water being an important component of every living system, we thought that its purity and beauty had to be retained and maintained. This inspired us to choose this challenge, because after all "You need to be the change that you wish to see in the world" During the process we learnt that we could compliment each other as each one of us brought in different strengths and creative ideas. Our journey together was extremely fulfilling and we are glad that we could unite for a noble cause. During the process, we also came across many challenges but we fought for it as a team. We not only learn about our topic but also we learnt team management, public speaking and designing. Altogether, it was a great experience developing the idea along with our team.
References
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/4880/toxic-algae-bloom-off-washington
https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/article/satellites-toxic-algae-patrol
https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/learning/player/lesson13/l13la1.html
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/nature-environment/environmental-studies/eutrophication/content-section-5
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/media/biomagnification/
http://www.azeral.es/en/divulgazeral/ecotoxicology/what-is-biomagnification
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/downstream-consequences-how-nasa-tracks-harmful-algal-blooms
https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/eutrophication-causes-consequences-and-controls-in-aquatic-102364466/
http://www.eniscuola.net/en/2016/11/03/what-is-eutrophication-causes-effects-and-control/
https://www.pngkit.com/view/u2e6y3r5i1q8q8y3_mercury-is-an-element-that-bioaccumulates-or-builds/
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-biomagnification.php
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/biomagnification
Tags
#Earth #AquaticOrganisms #Toxicity #SaveAquaticLife #ElectronicImage #Superhero
Global Judging
This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.