Due to a research we have performed during the Global Scholars elective subject in 2023, we have acquired an active carbon filter for one of the taps in the school canteen.
Global scholars students
28th of February 2023
COSTA I LLOBERA. A carbon filter has been installed this week in one of the taps of the canteen in order to improve the quality of the water we drink.
We have been working on a project whose objective is to obtain purified water from filtering tap water.
Everything started with an experiment we, Global Scholars students from 8th grade, did with a DIY filter with specific materials:
- A plastic water bottle
- Pebbles
- Active carbon
- Cotton
- Sand
These materials went in a specific order inside the bottle that will filter the water properly. This way we proved that our DIY filter worked smoothly since we performed several experiments with it:
First we added some dirt to clean water and used water testing strips to test it, we obtained terrible results from dirty water, as expected. Secondly, we analyzed the water that we directly obtain from the tap, and we obtained good results. We can assure the water we drink in Costa i Llobera is drinkable. In third and last place we filtered tap water, and we obtained even better results because the water wasn’t as hard, and so we thought that installing active carbon filters could be a very good improvement.
We sent a petition to our headmistress, Dolors Bastida, to ask the members of the board to buy a water filter, and we were given the green light.
Here is the filter that we bought.
We have chosen this option because it accomplishes the sustainability diagram, a concept that we have been studying in Science.
This filter is “affordable”. It ranges from 18 to 80 Euro depending on the quality and the shop, the model we have chosen costs 21 euro.
It’s environmentally friendly, because you can substitute the inner cartridge and recycle it. Each cartridge costs 10 euro and lasts for 1000 liters.
It’s social because we are improving the quality of the water we are consuming, so it is beneficial for our community.
Our filter:
In addition, you can see the filter content, and it’s really easy to use. The water passes through the filters, then it comes out through the same tap.
Above, you can see a few pictures of the water filter that we have chosen. In one of the pictures we can see the materials inside the cartridge which can be easily replaced.
We have finally installed the water filter on the faucet in the canteen. We had to modify the faucet, because it was not the same shape as the filter we bought. This caused a short delay in the installation process.
The water from Ter and Llobregat rivers is filtered before being distributed through the water supply pipes of Aigues de Barcelona Consortium.