GreenClean: Can Plant Roots Make Dirty Water Potable?

Overview

The purpose of this project is to make potable water accessible to all by using common household plants to filter dirty water. The hypothesis for this project was that out of the onion, parsley, and celery plants used in this project, the onion will filter the best, due to the roots being the thickest and the most durable. The celery plant will filter the worst, leaving the parsley plant to filter the second best. In this project, plants were made into filters with sand, gravel, and dirt. Then, the dirty water was poured through the filter. In this project, a secchi disk was used to measure clarity in the water. The onion plant filtered the best with a 4.9 secchi average, proving the hypothesis right. The celery plant filtered the worst with a 3.3 secchi average. The parsley plant filter had a 4.2 secchi disk average. These results supported the hypothesis.The findings of this project could help people who don't have potable water around the world. Future steps for this project could be trying to also remove the harmful bacteria in the water, recirculating the water through the filter again, and teaching others about it so they could make their own filter.

Competition history

• CSEF 2026 Environmental Engineering (Junior Division) · Entry J-11-32

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