2 Pasadena Students Win MWD's Individual ECO Spirit Awards

LOS ANGELES, CA - Two students from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena won second and third place Thursday at the Metropolitan Water District's ECO Innovators Showcase competition.

The top honors went to projects for sustainable buildings and water supplies created by students from Los Angeles Trade Technical College, UC Riverside and UC Irvine.

The contest was part of Metropolitan's ninth annual Spring Green Expo, an educational event featuring more than 60 exhibits of sustainable products and services by students, businesses, conservation groups and public agencies at MWD's downtown Los Angeles headquarters.

More than 30 projects from colleges, universities and trade schools were entered in individual and team categories. For the first time, three high schools participated in the fourth annual event.

"While Metropolitan is in the water business, we're also in the sustainability and resource management business. That means we work to not only conserve water, but also strive to save energy and protect watersheds and ecosystems," MWD General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger said.

"Climate change is bringing additional pressures to the environment and water resources. As rain replaces snow, droughts become longer and temperatures rise, we have to find innovative ways to protect our environment and water supplies," he said. "Today's ECO Innovators Showcase winners offer ... ideas on how we can live more sustainably in the coming decades."

Los Angeles Technical College's Stephanie Green took the top prize in the individual category for her project modeling a sustainable extension of the Santa Monica Pier. The design creates energy and water supplies through solar panels, wind generators, rain water collection and ocean water desalination.

A seven-member team from UC Riverside won first place in the team category for their project producing a wood plastic composite out of rice husk, recycled plastic and other affordable materials. The goal is to use the sustainable building material, which is termite and water resistant, in the Philippines, according to the MWD.

The winner of the new ECO Spirit Award, given in memory of Metropolitan's Spring Green founder Nancy Kavin, was a four-member team from UC Irvine that engineered a feasible water system in Choluteca, Honduras, which lacked clean water. Through Global Engineering Brigades, the team worked with local engineers to design a gravitational system bringing water to 160 homes.

Second place honors in the team category also went to a team from UC Riverside and third place went to Chapman University in Orange.

In the individual category, second and third place went to Julia Altschul and Randi Robins, respectively, both from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.

Metropolitan is a state-established cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving nearly 19 million people in six counties. The district imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies.

--City News Service, photo via Shutterstock