Focus 2010: Water

As a special opportunity for Clark School and University of Maryland students, the Clark School held a video competition in conjunction with the 2010 Engineering Sustainability Workshop, whose focus was on water.

2010 Student Video Contest Results

• 2010 Video Contest Winners

Guidelines for the Competition

Goal of the Competition

The Clark School of Engineering seeks to reduce its water footprint (and its carbon footprint) by improving the water supply and consumption of its buildings, laboratories, and grounds. In addition, we wish to reduce the negative impacts of the campus on our neighboring stream (Paint Branch) as well as downstream waters (Anacostia and Potomac Rivers, Chesapeake Bay). The video competition seeks to involve students in this mission.

Some Ideas To Help You Get Started

• What is a water footprint?
• What is a carbon footprint?
• What do water supply and water use have to do with carbon?
  It takes energy to move water. Drinking water and used water (“waste” water) are generally treated with physical and chemical processes that require energy.
• Why save water when we’re not in a drought?
  Wise water use is not just for times of water shortage. More...
• How is our campus damaging Paint Branch, other rivers, and the Bay?
  Buildings and pavement (impervious areas) block the infiltration of rainwater into the soil. Water that flows off impervious areas bypasses the soil’s natural treatment processes, carries trash and other pollutants, and accelerates erosion in streams. More...

Eligibility

The video competition is open to individual current Clark School students at the graduate and undergraduate levels, and to teams of current Clark School and non-Clark School University of Maryland students, also at the graduate and undergraduate levels, as long as at least one member of any team is a Clark School student.

Questions to be Answered in the Video

Each video must answer the following questions in a two-minute presentation:

1. Target: What University building or site does your solution target? What specific aspect of that building/site’s water supply, use, or discharge, or trash generation is addressed? (Multiple buildings/sites may be targeted.)
2. Method: How would you improve the targeted building/site’s water supply, use, or discharge, or trash generation? Describe the technology that you would use to make the improvement(s), including as appropriate the role of people who manage, work in, and use the building or site.
3. Local Impact: Based on your best estimates, what would be the cost of implementing your solution and what would be its quantitative benefits (in terms of dollars or some other measure) during one year of implementation?
4. Broader Impact: Why does wiser water use matter not only for our campus but also for our nation and the world?

Selection

A committee of Clark School faculty members will select the winning video based on its success in answering the questions listed above.

Prizes

The committee will offer:

• Graduate-Level Prize: $500, presentation of the video at the workshop, and a link to the video from the Clark School website
• Undergraduate-Level Prize: $500, presentation of the video at the workshop, and a link to the video from the Clark School website

Deadline for Submission

By close of business (5:00) on April 19, 2010.