The rain is falling hard, and your catchment system is at full capacity. You know the potential each drop holds. The nutrients alone could provide a welcome boost for all the plants in the Lab. But you don’t know everything that’s in the water. Rainwater touches multiple surfaces and picks up pollutants from the atmosphere long before it enters your system.

How can you be sure it’s safe for use?

Improve on your previous lesson by building a bigger better mouse trap, or water filter as it were. Scale your water filter design for bigger volume production. Think gallons not ounces and improve efficiency while you’re at it. You should also consider how your filter can be used in concert with your existing catchment system as an inline part of the overall process or as a mobile system that can be easily deployed as needed.

Start with a discussion to work out some details, then move to a design phase, and ultimately into production. Consider materials and inputs that you can source for free, perhaps even upcycle.