YCAF Irrigation Project

A Bloomberg Philanthropies Youth Climate Action Fund Micro-Grant

Colin Sexton, Malcolm Trese, Johnny Sbrega, Jakob Kessman, Julian Carnavali

Through funding from the Bloomberg Youth Climate Action Fund, five juniors at Hastings High School—Jakob Kessman, Colin Sexton, Malcolm Trese, Johnny Sbrega, and Julian Carnavali—installed an irrigation system to locally source and transport water from a nearby creek to the recently constructed greenhouse in Hastings' beautiful Zinsser Community Gardens.

Our goals:

Provide the greenhouse built at the Zinsser Park Garden with an irrigation system to locally source water for its plants.
Users of our system would not have to leave the greenhouse to access the water.
To be entirely hidden underground, so it doesn’t change the aesthetics of a walk through the garden.
To be completely out of the way of the plots it runs under, as well as the other gardeners walking above it.
To return the plots that the system runs under to their original state, once our system was buried and complete.
To minimize the environmental footprint of the greenhouse.
To construct the system without the use of gas-powered tools, reducing our environmental footprint by doing all of the work manually.

How will this project help?

The water system saves labor: users can pump the water directly into the greenhouse instead of gathering water manually.
The system eliminates the wasted materials that people would use to gather or purchase water.
Specific amounts of water can be extracted through our system and can be used to water plants, eliminating any water that could otherwise be wasted by transportation in buckets or other varying transportation methods.
The setup makes the greenhouse more productive, more environmentally friendly, and more convenient, ensuring optimal growing conditions for plants year-round.

Our plan:

To place PVC piping underground to transport water from a creek directly to the inside of the greenhouse.
To dig a trench with room for the pipes to be undisturbed.
The water would flow uphill from the creek to the greenhouse through a pump inside of the greenhouse.
All work would be done manually, without any kind of increased carbon footprint.

Steps we took to accomplish our plan:

We dug a 60 ft trench that was 8”-12” deep the entire length, with a consistent downward slope from the greenhouse to the creek for smooth water flow. We removed all leaves, rocks, and sticks from the trench, so that nothing interferes with the water movement to the greenhouse and no debris will crack the PVC as the dirt settles.
We put down a 3” base layer of sand into the trench to block any remaining rocks from cracking the PVC and to ensure smooth water flow. We then laid down the PVC with the connectors, both straight and angles, to correct the parts of the trench that needed more sand.

We used the PVC placed in the sand to mark what lengths the pieces of PVC piping would have to be to fit the trench. We used the markings on the PVC to cut it into pieces with different lengths to fit the trench.

We applied the PVC primer and cement to connect all of the pieces of PVC piping to the connectors and then laid them on top of the sand. We then buried it back with the dirt we took out when digging the trench, returning the plot to its original state.

How will our project benefit the greenhouse?

Provides a reliable, locally sourced water supply to the greenhouse.
Eliminates the need to leave the greenhouse to water the plants, making maintenance more efficient and convenient.
Does not interfere with other plots in the garden, preserving the functionality and aesthetics of the surrounding area.
Supports the greenhouse's operations without increasing its environmental footprint.

How will our project benefit the community?

Improved water access improves access to fresh, locally grown produce.
Demonstrates sustainable practices by reducing the use of external water sources and fostering environmental guardianship.
The eco-friendly upgrades, including the upcoming solar panels, will power fans and pumps, making the greenhouse self/energy sufficient.
The product serves as a model for sustainable agriculture, inspiring environmental awareness through the community. People will learn the benefits of local and self-sufficient power and water.
People in the community may be inspired to implement similar strategies of bettering our environment, like locally sourced water and power provided through solar panels, on their own properties.

Lessons Learned

As we worked at the Zinsser Gardens, many people stopped to ask us about different details related to our project. This showed us that small community projects such as ours as well as a shared interest in bettering our environment can bring many different people within a community together, including people who would never otherwise have the chance to meet.
Through our work at Zinsser Community Gardens, we learned that what may seem like small projects can actually have a large impact on the environment.
We learned about many of the efforts people in our very own community are making to minimize Hastings’ environmental footprint as well as their own.
We learned about the value of hard work and how it’s always better to be safe than sorry. For instance, it's better to guarantee quality work by doing it the right way rather than taking shortcuts to save time and energy.
We learned a lot about responsibility, teamwork, and leadership as we worked on our project in ways we wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to do.

Ongoing Work:

Solar panels will be installed onto the top of the greenhouse and will power fans and a pump inside the greenhouse
The pump powered by the coming solar panels will pump water from the creek into the greenhouse through our underground irrigation system.

Materials used in our project: