Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I want to do a project about how to generate runoff gutter water into safe drinking water. What would be the process to cleanse gutter water into fresh drinking water? Why does gutter water go straight into the ocean instead of cycling back into the reservoir?

Can you please assist me in better defining the scientific question to ask?

Thank you!

Hi anisya,

I think the first step for you to better define your topic is to do some background research. You already have a great goal "how to make runoff gutter water into safe drinking water" so now you need a hypothesis, which is basically your educated guess about what will happen, in this case, you'll want to make an educated guess about some material or process that will make gutter runoff water safer to drink. I have no idea what this might be, but Google and other resources can probably give you a load of ideas. You probably won't be able to test every idea that you find, so pick ONE that you find particularly interesting and that you will be able to test easily (i.e. cheap, readily available materials, etc.). After that you'll have your hypothesis and you can design an experiment that will test your hypothesis.

You can also search our database and other science fair project databases for projects that have already been designed that are similar to your area of interest. I found this one in our Science Fair Project Ideas that seems highly related: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p030.shtml

You can still modify any experiment you find to fit your precise area of interest.

I don't know what you'll find in your research, but I can easily imagine a project testing the ability of sand (as an example) to remove particular contaminants from gutter run-off water.

I hope this helps!
JMP