Dylan Verburg, a master’s candidate in environmental engineering, and professor Rajesh Seth work to improve drinking water quality in the capital of India.
Dylan Verburg grew up on a farm, and his experience with small construction projects there has proven invaluable in his current challenge — deploying equipment in a drainage pond outside the Indian capital of New Delhi in an attempt to improve water quality.
“Two 50-foot sections of tubing were placed … with the intention of oxidizing the inlet stream before it mixes with the main body of the lake,” the civil engineering student writes in a blog on the Windsor Engineering website. “Six additional lines are placed strategically in the main body of the lake,” located along the Yamuna River in North Delhi.
He will measure the resulting changes, which aim to aerate the water, allowing beneficial bacteria to flourish and naturally restore the ecosystem.
“There is so little dissolved oxygen in the water that life forms depending on oxygen can’t survive, making the water a prime breeding ground for pathogenic organisms such as bacteria, parasites, and mosquitos,” Verburg writes.
His participation in the research project is supported in part by the Queen Elizabeth Scholarships in Water and Energy, established in celebration of the monarch’s diamond jubilee.