The intention of Water Is Alive and our partner Groundwork Dallas is to clean Joe’s Creek, a tributary of the Trinity River. Whereas Groundwork Dallas’ focus is on cleaning litter out of the Joe’s Creek, Water Is Alive has been invited to focus on reducing bacterial contamination in the creek. To accomplish this, we are going to place two different kinds of ‘bio-filters’ in the water. One is a food-grade inoculated substrate that will rest on the sediment, the other is a mycelium inoculated substrate that will float on the surface. The initial tests will experiment with different substrates and demonstrate their abilities to reduce Escherichia coli bacteria as well as examining the ‘bio-filters’ resilience in streaming water and their biodegradable qualities during storms.
Our goals are to demonstrate the flexible applications food-grade microorganisms as to reduce contamination before it enters the Trinity River in the form of small biodegradable ‘bio-filters’. Future applications of this demonstration project will be to accomplish a reduction in environmental contamination by using these same techniques to build household bio-filters, enhanced filter strips, constructed wetlands, and bio-filter buffer zones around waste processing plants, water treatment plants, municipal landfills, Superfund sites, auto salvage operations and Brownfields.
Funding and In-Kind Donations
Water Is Alive is seeking to apply to local foundations for grants, to engage in crowdfunding and we are seeking corporate and private donations to support the Trinity River Bioremediation Demonstration Project. We require materials to build bio-filters, grow-rooms in the form of climate-controlled trailers or containers, a truck to transport materials and educational tools such as a microscope and basic environmental monitoring kits to monitor for e coli. Our long-term desires are to get most materials necessary to grow biofilters donated. Financial support is presently needed to cover these costs as well as basic operational costs such as liability insurance, required by the City of Dallas prior to the start of the Trinity River Bioremediation Demonstration Project.
We are currently seeking donations to start the Trinity River Bioremediation Demonstration Project. An EPA Gulf of Mexico Program Reduction and Prevention of Trash in the Five Coastal States of the Gulf of Mexico Watershed reimbursement grant of $10,000 has been awarded towards this project.
We hope to work with area foundations in applying for federal, state and private funding to demonstrate and teach bioremediation as an educational tool and Best Management Practice in other contaminated streams and lakes as well as contaminated soils in Dallas.
Community Building while Cleaning the Environment
Bioremediation works with living organisms to break down contaminants in soils and water. The question we will answer in the Trinity River Bioremediation Demonstration Project is how many bio-filters will it take to quantify the change in contamination levels? Schools, universities and interested individuals will help us in the quest to discover the answer to this and other questions during the demonstration project. This demonstration is to model the dynamic power of microorganisms in cleaning the water with food-grade organisms growing on donated agricultural by-products. We are inviting schools, churches, businesses, municipalities, and you to participate and make the Trinity River Bioremediation Project a success!
Water Is Alive and Groundwork Dallas will work together to place and monitor the filters, and as citizen science volunteers for The Texas Stream Team, we will also monitor Joe’s Creek for e coli and other water quality factors.
The Water Is Alive biofilter concept and design are intellectual property belonging to Water Is Alive. We hope upon the successful demonstration of our methods, stakeholders in the Total Maximum Daily Limit (e coli) Implementation Zone in the Trinity River Basin will engage Water Is Alive contractually for educational and environmental projects. Water Is Alive highly recommends our filters and curriculum for other impaired water projects in Dallas, as well as other bioremediation techniques.
© Water Is Alive 2021