Ms. Hayley Todesco, senior at Queen Elizabeth Junior Senior High School in Calgary, Alberta, won the 2014 Canadian Stockholm Junior Water Prize. She will be travelling to Sweden to present her project Waste to Water: Biodegrading Naphthenic Acids with Novel Sand Filter Bioreactors at the international Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition in Stockholm.
Hayley carried out studies to design, construct, and investigate the use of slow sand filters newly applied as novel aerobic bioreactors to the microbial degradation of naphthenic acids. This treatment process could help deal with contaminated water in oil sands tailing ponds at a faster rate than typical processes and recover water for reuse. Hayley is an enthusiastic scientist in training, very proud to be representing Canada at this international competition.
The Canadian winner was selected from projects at the 2014 Canada Wide Science Fair held in Windsor, Ontario, in May 2014. Three finalists were selected to prepare detailed scientific papers to determine the 2014 winner. The other two Canadian finalists who each receive a prize of $300 CDN were Stéphane Chenard, of Glenmary School in Peace River, Alberta, Fertilizer Fiasco: Is Denitrification the Answer? and Theresa DeCola, Bayside Secondary School in Belleville, Ontario, Implications of Dreissenid Mussel Death and Degradation on Water Quality. Each student project represented sound scientific study to address an issue to help our water environment.
Each year the Canadian Member Associations of the Water Environment Federation select a high calibre scientific student project to travel all expenses paid to Stockholm, Sweden, to represent Canada at the prestigious international competition.
The Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP) final will be held during the 2014 World Water Week from August 31 - September 5, organized and hosted by the Stockholm International Water Institute.
For more information please visit the Canadian Stockholm Junior Water Prize website at www.sjwp.ca.
Canadian Water and Wastewater Association