The Effect of Compost Type on Blocking Water Run-Off

Overview

Objectives The purpose of my science experiment is to determine the effect of compost type on blocking water run-off. My hypothesis was that the cow manure compost will block the most water run-off due to the consistency of the compost allowing it to clump better thereby retaining more water. This is important because farmers need effective solutions to reduce water run-off while still maintaining or increasing their crop production in an environment that is still recovering from dyer drought conditions and restrictive water regulations. Methods For my experiment, I placed soil and compost in pans, placed pan slanted to allow water to run-off, placed an empty pan at the bottom to catch run-off water, poured 1,000 milliliters of water evenly over the compost, after water was poured I waited one (1) minute, poured run-off water from bottom pan into measuring cup, and then wrote down results. I repeated this 30 times for the bare soil, the green waste compost, and the cow manure compost. My manipulated variable is the type of compost; the responding variable is the amount of water run-off; the variable held constant is the amount of compost, soil, and water used; and the instrument of measurement is the measuring cup. Results I found that the cow manure compost had a lower amount of water run-off with an average of 409 milliliters; while the bare soil had an average of 484 milliliters of water run-off, and the green waste had an average of 573 milliliters of water run-off. Conclusions After concluding my experiment, my results showed that the cow manure compost had the least amount of water run-off thereby providing farmers a possible solution to decreasing their water run-off while simultaneously helping our State s recurring water shortage. This shortage despite the notion going around, that we are out of the drought and no longer in a water shortage, is still a serious problem due to the fact that most of this rain water is not being collected; and we will possibly see this problem again in the near future.

Competition history

• CSEF 2019 Environmental Engineering · Entry J1122

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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