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Problems with the rising sea levels have some wondering if we should design better ways to handle water for cities in the future.
That was the goal of Batavia Middle School students who are getting this week’s NewsDepth A Plus! They competed in the Future City competition.
Every year, middle school teams compete to design more sustainable cities.
Topics have included urban farming and green energy.
This year’s focus was clean drinking water.
The team from Batavia designed Aquawen, an imaginary city in Louisiana 150 years from now.
Southern Louisiana experiences many threats to clean drinking water, like hurricanes.
The team designed the city with dome houses to protect from these storms, and nanobots that would detect unclean or mysterious substances in the water.
Batavia Middle School won the Ohio competition, beating out 15 other schools.
They advanced to the national competition in Washington D.C., and won a special prize - the Advancing Quality of Life for All award from the American Public Works Association.
Team member Sydnee Kidwell said her favorite part of the project was working with an amazing team to make something incredible. She also said, “I learned that I was way more capable than I thought I was.”
Way to go, Batavia Middle School! We’re proud to award you this week’s NewsDepth A Plus for using creativity to make sustainable solutions for cities in the future.