Having pure water is something that is vital everywhere around the world. But according to National Geographic, fresh water makes up only 2.5 % of all the water on earth. As we dig further into the ground to find clean water, we need to drill wells to get this water out. These wells also require filters to prevent the water from being contaminated by dirt, clay, and other sediments as it comes into our home and work place. Nearly 43 million people in the United States alone use well water, and according to filterbutler.com, the average sediment filter should be replaced every 3 to 6 months. The average replacement cost of a well filter is $15.00. That means that, if every American household is replacing their sediment filter every half a year, and assuming these Americans live in families of four, this costs a total of $322,000,000 per year. So although it's necessary, filtering water is expensive.

Our solution is to help with the sustainment of well water filters by creating a pre-filter that can clean out sediment before it reaches the main filter. We took our inspiration from clams, which use their biology to filter water as they consume nutrition found in water. If we are able to make the filtration process better through biomimicry of the clam's siphon, cilia, and gill plates, then we believe that we’d be able to save Americans $118,000,000 through the purchasing of an easy to use $4 pre-filter sediment remover. This application would be attached to the piping leading to the filter.

Our project essentially asks and answers the question...“What If we could use filtration processes like clams do to save people money in a very simple way?” In and of itself, "what if" is a very broad topic, but works better if put in the context of a real world problem. That’s why Clam₂0 has created our solution for water filtration, specifically in the house of the average American by saving them money while continuing to clean water.

Our research into the clam's biology led us to concentrate on three major features used in water filtration: the siphon, the cilia, and the gill plates. For our experiment, we took different kinds of brushes and poured dirty water through them to simulate water going through the body of a clam. The pouring itself acted like the clam's siphon, while the brush bristles acted like the cilia. We used different textures of bristles that started hard, and gradually got softer. The water that went through the bristles was then tested to see how much was filtered out using a turbidity meter. We then took the water used in the last phase of testing and poured it into the next phase. After this, we poured the filtered water through a series of mesh like materials to simulate the gill plates of a clam. To see our complete lab report, as well as other info about our project, visit our website by clicking on the globe icon at the top of the page.

We fully appreciate the help that we've gotten to get this far, but we do not need any more help for our Expo process.

Please be sure to visit our web site to find more information about our project including our lab report, information about our team, our digital media, and our market research. We look forward to meeting everyone at Expo on June 1st to share more exciting details of our project!