Engineering Abroad
Sustainable Mechanical & Systems Engineering
Partnered with a local trout farmer in Providencia, Costa Rica. The water source for the pond comes from the river in their town which is located next to the farmers property. When doing the twice a month cleaning, they break up all the fish poop and algae and release it back into the river. We needed to design and create a sustainable water filtration system for the farmer so that it goes back into the river cleaner.
We built a gravity-powered water filtration system for a local trout farmer. Equipped with organic settling filters and a nitrogen filtering bioswale. The filters inside the bins are made of straw and mesh that can be locally sourced.
Trout farm Specs:
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Size of pond: 172 cubic meters of water
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Landscape: Large inclined grassy area
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Enough space to diffuse the water into a bioswale
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Fish: Roughly 1,000 fish, 10-12 inches long
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Water source in/out of the fish pond is from the river about 20 meters from the pond.
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Trout farm owner routes the water into his pond and back out when cycling the pond water.
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Figure 1: Trout Farm
Figure 2: Work Site Before Excavating
In Figure 1, you can see that the trout farm is on a hillside. Below the farm is where the work site was. In Figure 2, all brush you see is the work site before it was cleared out.
Figure 3: Work Site Overview
Figure 4: Excavating Work Site
Figure 5: Placing Nitrogen Absorbing Plants into Bioswale
It works!
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After completion, we turned the system on. We watched as the water filled up into each gravity-powered bin, filtering the sediments. Then, it poured out of the PVC pipes and into the bioswale.
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The bioswale had been supplied with local plants found in the area that are known to absorb nitrogen. The water will flow into the bioswale, and tubing has been placed into the hillside below to let the water flow out into the river.
When I started on this project, the goal was to branch out and see what possibilities I can do with an engineering degree. I wanted to do something with my life that creates a positive impact, doing research or design. This experience gave me this & more.
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