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To: JR. who wrote (10155)	11/16/2002 7:05:20 PM
From: gg cox	Respond to of 11802

JR, RE:"water treatment, waste removal" in your post..there is something to this and I'm not chitin..<<gggg>>> Students use muscle of mollusks to rehab water canoe.ca November 15, 2002 Students use muscle of mollusks to rehab water Halifax trio's research finds scallop shells can help clean up lakes, rivers By JoAnn Sherwood / Education Reporter ... Peter Parsons / Herald Photo J.L. Ilsley students Elias Fares, left, Amy Trottier and James Beaton-Johnson have researched the use of scallop shells to clean up polluted waters. A trio of Halifax teenagers have pioneered a way of making polluted water clean again using scallop shells. James Beaton-Johnson, Elias Fares and Amy Trottier say their research shows shells will clean contaminated rivers, lakes and even Halifax Harbour. "It could be used basically anywhere where water needs to be purified," Elias said. What began as a school science project last fall has turned into award-winning research for the three Grade 12 students at J.L. Ilsley High School. Their work has also attracted attention at Halifax city hall and the National Research Council. Next week, the students will showcase their work at the World Youth Parliament for Water in Quebec City. The Nov. 18-22 conference will bring together 100 teens from 30 countries. The Spryfield-area teens, along with two other students from B.C. and Ontario, are the only Canadian participants selected from outside Quebec. The J.L. Ilsley students started their research last fall after seeing a TV documentary about a Japanese fish farmer who tossed oyster shells into a pond and discovered that they cleared the soiled water. "We thought that was really interesting," Amy said. "We wanted to see if this actually did work." The Halifax teens began experimenting in the school's chemistry lab under the guidance of science teacher Greg DeLaLis. They started using discarded scallop shells immersed in dirty dish water, which cleared in 24 hours. "The results were so much more than we had expected," James said. "It kind of expanded a lot into a breakthrough." The teens also tested their theory on McIntosh Run, a contaminated river near the school. The teens successfully treated the river by lining it with wire cages, each the size of small potato sacks, filled with shells. The students, who won prizes at three science fairs last year, discovered that the shells neutralize pH and also filter out coliform bacteria, sediment and heavy metals. The budding researchers say it's the chemical makeup of the shell, as well as its shape, that improves water quality. As far as they know, and researchers and government officials agree, no one else is doing similar research. "This kind of natural approach to environmental aquatic issues is a novel one and it's highly significant," said George Iwama, director general of the research council's Halifax-based Institute for Marine Biosciences. The students received institute fellowships last spring, giving them access to a research lab to conduct further experiments. Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly was so impressed after seeing a demonstration by the students that he offered them summer jobs testing their method on the municipal water system. "I was more than impressed," the mayor said. The students took their cages to a Lower Sackville sewage treatment plant, reporting back to the municipality at the end of the summer that their method successfully cleaned water. Mr. Kelly agrees with the students that shells have the potential to be used in water cleanup projects. "What these students have done has long-term ramifications not only for HRM but for the entire province, the entire country and beyond." The students, who all plan to study science at university, have applied for a patent on their water-cleaning method. They're also writing an article on their research findings, with mentor Laura Brown from the marine institute, for a scientific journal. "We want to see just how far it can go," Amy said. "This idea can help people, so we want to get it out there." Back to the The Halifax Chronicle-Herald Online on CANOE.