$1 Filter Removes Lead in Tapwater

High schoolers create $1 filter to remove lead in water.

When the filter needs to be replaced, the water coming out of it changes color.

By Kristin Houser at Freethink.com

Maryland high school students have developed an ultra low-cost device to filter out lead in water. Aside from being cheaper than conventional systems, the filter also has a built-in warning system that lets users know when it needs to be replaced.

Why it matters: The EPA estimates that 6 to 10 million homes still get their water from lead pipes. If the chemistry of the water in those pipes changes, the pipes can corrode and leak lead into drinking water.

Lead is toxic, and consuming it can cause heart, kidney, and reproductive problems in adults. Children, meanwhile, can suffer lower IQs, behavioral problems, slowed growth, and more if even low levels of lead make it into their bloodstreams.

The challenge: While the U.S. has made enormous progress in reducing lead exposure in the last few decades, and steps are being taken to replace the remaining lead pipes, the transition won’t happen overnight. Finding pipes contaminated with lead and replacing them is a costly and often slow process.

In the meantime, people can use filtration systems to remove lead in water, but those filters can be bulky and expensive, and it can be hard to tell if they’re actually working or in need of replacement.

“A few years ago, I saw a video of a woman in Michigan turn on her tap water, and it came out brown,” said Rebecca Bushway, the Maryland students’ teacher at Barrie Middle and Upper School and the project’s principal investigator. 

“That made me think — because there’s really no safe level of lead in drinking water, wouldn’t it be nice to have a water filter that could tell you that your water is contaminated, well before it turns brown because of lead?” she continued.

The idea: In 2020, Bushway discussed the problem of lead in water with her chemistry students, who were learning from home at the time due to COVID-19, and they quickly started brainstorming ideas for a low-cost water filter.

“Calcium phosphate first binds with dissolved lead in water to form lead phosphate and free calcium,” said Bushway. “The calcium, which is harmless, ends up in the water, and the lead phosphate stays in the filter.”

When the calcium phosphate can no longer remove lead from the water, the potassium iodide powder at the very bottom of the device reacts to the lead. This causes the water leaving the filter to take on a yellow hue — this is the sign to users that it’s time to replace the device.

Fixed with science: It took more than a dozen failed prototypes to get everything just right, but the students now have a working water filter that Bushway presented at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society. 

During the presentation, she noted that the team is hoping to find partners to help it make and distribute the device, which she expects could be sold for as little as $1. 

“Ultimately, this experience has shown students that they can make a difference to somebody, and there are problems that they can fix with science,” Bushway said.

Fairfax County Recess for Middle School

FCPS set to require recess in all middle schools for the first time 

from Angela Woolsey at FFXnow

The Fairfax County School Board intends to approve policy revisions next month that would make recess a requirement at all elementary and middle schools.

Under the proposed changes to Fairfax County Public Schools’ student and staff health and wellness policy, all middle school students would be guaranteed at least 15-minute, supervised recess breaks during the day. Elementary school students will get two recess breaks per day, totaling at least 30 minutes.

“Mental health professionals have expressed the benefits of a daily break for all, and most importantly for students who enter our buildings at 7:30 in the morning and don’t see a ray of sunshine until dismissal,” Ricardy Anderson, the school board’s Mason District representative, said at Thursday’s board meeting (March 24).

According to FCPS, the recess requirement for elementary school students is not new. It’s just being integrated into the health and wellness policy at the school board’s request.

FCPS has “employed a variety of structures” to give middle school students a break during the school day, but this will be the first time that recess is mandated at that level, a spokesperson says.

Middle schools across the system started incorporating recess into their schedules during the current

Virtual Professional Learning

from Virginia ACTE:

Professional Learning Opportunity for Canvas/Virtual Virginia. All resources are free and created for Virginia teachers. Great Opportunities for CTE teachers.

The Virtual Virginia's Professional Learning Program: Self-paced courses (including one on getting started with Canvas and one on using Canvas with Google).

The Canvas Countdown (CTE-facilitated cohort): Self-paced and focused on CTE-related needs.

The Virginia Virginia Professional Learning Network: Sign up for LMS support, best practices, and a shared space for participants to learn from one another.