Reno 411: 9-Year-Old's Science Fair Project Saves City Thousands of Gallons of Water
File this one under amazing.
A 9-year-old boy's science fair project has saved his Reno, Nevada community tens of thousands of gallons of water, reports The Reno Gazette-Journal.
Mason Perez’s journey from middle schooler to water-saving hero began two years ago when, innocuously enough, he attempted to wash his hands at a youth baseball game after eating a hot dog lathered with too much mustard and relish.
The water pressure from the faucet in the bathroom was very powerful—in fact, it hurt the then 7-year-old's fingers.
Perez theorized that if the tap’s pressure was only half as strong, the faucet would be just as effective. And, more importantly, a lot of water could be saved.
Perez set out to prove his nascent theory at his school’s science fair, reports, the Gazette-Journal:
He tested his theory by using a half-gallon bucket and a stop watch, measuring how much water came out within a certain amount of time when the valves were wide open and when they were turned half off.
The tests were conducted three times each at his house, his grandmother's house and a friend's house, with a resulting savings in water use ranging from almost 4 percent to 23 percent.
He also went to three businesses: Reno Aces ballpark, Scheels sporting goods store and the Coconut Bowl at Wild Waters in Sparks. His tests showed savings from 6 to 25 percent.
Armed with the water bill proof, Perez and his mother approached the park’s manager, Rick Parr, who was initially skeptical of their simple money-saving idea. "But after listening to him, I thought, 'This kid could be right. So I went down to the bathrooms myself to check out his theory,” said Parr to the Gazette-Journal. “We didn't measure it, but you could tell right away that it worked.”
The other thing that happened at that initial meeting was that Perez learned why the faucets were so pressurized to begin with—to clean out new pipes, construction workers typically leave them fully open after installing plumbing.
Wise beyond his years, Perez told the Gazette-Journal that saving water by simply reducing faucet pressure could be a backdoor measure used by states affected by budget crises to keep teachers from losing their jobs:
"You know how teachers have kind of been losing their jobs? If we turned down every valve at every school we have in the Washoe County School District, with all that money we can save, we can save at least one teacher's job."
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