Photo by V. Miller
Feb. 2, 2005
Brine and Growing Grass
Watching Grass Grow: A Spectrographic Analysis of the Concentration of Iron and Chromium in Subsurface Soils as a Result of Watering Seashore Paspalum Turfgrass with Reverse Osmosis Brine
Christine Elizabeth Johns, 14, Cape Coral, Fla.
Finalist, Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, 2004
Project background: Christine had read about the challenges in maintaining the freshwater supply in Florida. She wondered if an alternative source could be used for lawn watering and other irrigation. After learning that her city's water plant produced brine as a byproduct, she worked with advisers at the Florida Gulf Coast University summer research program to design her research. She chose to use seashore paspalum turfgrass because of its growing popularity in lawns and parks.
Tactics and results: In her third series of annual experiments, Christine planted ten seashore paspalum grass plugs, watering five with tap water and five with reverse osmosis brine. She took soil samples after 1, 3, and 5 weeks, processing each for analysis by an atomic absorption spectrometer. After calibrating the spectrometer with standard iron and chromium solutions, she tested each soil sample.
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| Photo by V. Miller |
The amount of iron decreased 10 percent in the brine-watered samples, and the amount of chromium decreased 29 percent, leading Christine to conclude that the toxic metals do not collect in soil planted with seashore paspalum grass and watered with brine.
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