Aqua-Bridge 5th Grade Invention to Clean Rivers

Trash in the Ohio River

Last week, my oldest son won a science fair project for his class, in which 10 and 11-year olds come up with unique inventions to help clean up or preserve the environment.  Actually, it is the second year that he was selected for the “Inventaprize” honor in the Bend-LaPine School District. But I’ll get back to his 4th grade invention in another post.  Needless to say, I am one proud mom!

Matt’s invention is designed to help clean up rivers like the one shown to the left.  He has come up with a way for us to do this automatically, without harming fish that live in the river.  I think his “Aqua-Bridge” invention sounds pretty advanced for a 5th grader!  Did I mention how proud I am?

Matt described his invention to me as follows.  An aqua-bridge is constructed across a river so that people can cross it on foot or bicycle.  One of the unique features of the bridge includes a pair of water filters, one on the right and on the left, positioned so that fish can swim in between them without harm.  Solar panels fitted over the roof of the bridge provide clean, renewable energy to power the water filters and the river arms.

River arms are constructed under the Aqua-Bride, near the river bed.  The river arms are fitted with sonar emitters to locate the trash in the river, and they also have a spear to target and remove the trash.  The river arms also have an infrared sensor, installed below the sonar emitter, so that the spears does not target fish instead of trash.

The river arms of the Aqua-Bridge are designed with claw-like clamps that can grab garbage floating through the river. When the river arms gets a hold of debris, it dumps it into one of two receptacles.  The river arms are smart, robotic-like gadgets, with the ability to determine if the debris is trash or recyclable.

I didn’t ask Matt how many of these would be required along a large river like the Columbia, which separates Washington and Oregon state.  In addition, I wonder who would be contracted to pick up the garbage and recycling – local municipalities, or perhaps a company that is awarded a state-wide contract.

As the following video shows, trash in rivers is a real environmental concern.  This video was shot along the Clackamas River, another river in our homestate of Oregon.

I can’t wait until the day when I can include a video of my son’s own Aqua-Bridge invention at work cleaning up the river!  Of course, if we would all take better care of the environment and properly dispose of trash, we might not need these contraptions.  But that may be too much to ask of humanity.  Thank goodness for smart, green kids like Matt!