Water reuse among many ideas at UC Merced engineering event

During their four years as students at UC Merced, Rosa Ruiz and Robylene Seapno, had a strong enthusiasm for environmental sustainability.  

As the newest campus in the state system, UC Merced was built to the highest sustainability standards in place back in the early 2000s.  

For Rosa, part of the attraction to this new facility was the focus on making the best use of natural resources.

“I had a real interest in this,” Rosa said.

So it did not surprise these two when they paired up with two other students with similar views on conservation to work on an engineering solution that could help the entire campus community.

The four comprised a team within the School of Engineering who, along with other student teams, developed engineering solutions to problems facing manufacturers, ag producers, and non-profit organizations.

The workgroup was among sixty-six student teams that showcased their findings to teachers, clients, and business community representatives at the annual Innovate to Grow final presentations held on May 13.

The projects ranged from aggregating data from cropland microcomputers to improvements in early childhood learning tools.  More than two hundred students worked on these projects throughout the semester.  They met with real clients, traveled on-site when necessary, and worked on their problems collaboratively under the supervision of their professors.

“The students delivered great projects,” said UC Merced, Director of Innovation Stefano Foresti.  

The problem facing this particular student team was rainwater, and how to engineer a way to capture what little rain falls on the campus, and use that water for landscaping and other needs.

Campus leaders are considering installing a rainwater harvesting system. 

Right now, the only source of water for the campus comes from the City of Merced.  The City’s water system does not utilize non-potable water. 

The engineering team was given the task to address the goal of UC Merced’s leadership to design a system that will capture and use non-potable water to irrigate green areas on campus. 

The proposed design location for the system is the Academic Office Annex building.  The team calculated that an annual rainwater collection of 54,000 gallons could happen with the right solution. 

To demonstrate the solution, a proof of concept a prototype was designed and installed at the UC Merced Community Garden.  That prototype is expected to collect about 400 gallons of rainwater annually.

The students created a rainwater capture and storage concept using a small storage shed already on the campus as their prototype location.  

Their analytics showed that saving the water and storing it can be done.  Recommendations for more water-resistant plants and shrubbery were also entered into the calculations.

The University and the School of Engineering are satisfied with the team that took on the challenge.  It’s hoped that their work can be passed on to another student team in the fall semester to take the research up to another level.

According to Rosa, “We are not giving up.”

The student team proved that a water capture and storage project can be done, but at this time the solution may not be cost-effective.  Right now, it is less expensive to buy the water the campus might need for this effort from the City of Merced than it would be to build and maintain a system for the project.

This project will likely be turned over to a future Innovate to Grow team in hopes that an even better solution can be found.

That’s what innovators do.  They keep trying.

For Rosa, Robylene, and the rest of their team, there was a great deal of satisfaction in knowing they were part of a much bigger challenge to make the best use of the Valley’s water supply.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced. 

His current book A Bundle of Memories is available at Lulu.com. 

Four of his books are now available via author search on bookshop.org where each purchase helps independent book store owners.