US (SD): Middle and high schoolers build aquaponics system
The program is operated by Lower Brule Research, a nonprofit that gives students hands-on research opportunities throughout the summer. The aquaponics system is one of four science projects, all aimed toward understanding how to increase community access to affordable, healthy food, Riter said.
The other three projects include home hydroponics, behaviorally informed messaging and community garden engagement and vermicomposting — the use of earthworms to convert organic waste into fertilizer.
The aquaponics project, which began June 5, was supported by a small grant provided by the Dakota Indian Foundation. Sonny Rivers, who runs a Rapid City-based solar power company called Ecoworks, helped the group install wiring and solar panels into the aquaponics project a few weeks ago, said Devon Riter, the executive director of Lower Brule Research. The panels will run a small pump, moving water up from a fish tank to plants. These plants will use the fish waste water to grow and, in return, purify the water for the fish as it cycles back. Lower Brule students then brought in minnows recently into the project and plants to finish out the system.
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