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The Greenway Foundation

The Greenway Foundation

Revitalizing Rivers. Reconnecting Communities.

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Clean Water Challenge

Home » Stewardship » Clean Water Challenge
Clean Water Challenge teams present their prototypes in 2018

College Students Lead Conservation

The Greenway Foundation hosts an annual, year-long competition for Colorado university students designed to stretch their engineering and creative thinking skills while addressing pollution in the South Platte River. This real-world competition has led to real change for our waterways. A design for The Greenway Foundation’s Nautilus originally came from students in this very competition.

2023-2024 Clean Water Challenge Competition

This year The Greenway Foundation worked with a team from Colorado School of Mines for the Clean Water Challenge. We tasked the teams with tackling the environmental challenges that road salts cause. The team spend two semesters researching the problem and coming up with a concept.

The team presented in April 2024 to our staff and board of directors, showcasing their innovative solution to road salt runoff. The team focused on Chloride removal using an Ion exchange system that could be placed after a hydrodynamic separator or in a standard storm drain, and safely remove chloride via an anion exchange resin.

Thank you also to Colorado Water Conservation Board for providing grant funding for this project!

Denver Department of Public Health & Environmen is a proud sponsor of the Clean Water Challenge. It has proven to be a great learning experience for both professionals working in water quality and students interested in the field. The challenge exposes students to real-world problems that water quality professionals deal with on a regular basis. Participants come with fresh perspectives leading to interesting, and sometimes unexpected, but practical solutions to challenging water quality problems.

Jon Novick
Jon Novick
Environmental Administrator Department of Public Health & Environment

Previous Clean Water Challenges

Despite the significant evolution in the health of the South Platte River, the reality of trash and other forms of pollution continue to be an ongoing challenge to the river. In response to this reality, Greenway challenged higher education students in the previous Clean Water Challenges to develop designs for urban waterway trash removal devices.

The Greenway Foundation works to develop promising innovations from the Clean Water Challenge into real-world solutions. The Nautilus passive trash removal system was originally presented in the 2015-2016 Clean Water Challenge.

Clean Water Design Challenge Updates

Student Teams compete at the Clean Water Design Challenge

Clean Water Challenge for 2021-2022!

Tuesday was quite the exciting day for The Greenway Foundation since we finally got to hear from the teams that participated in this year’s Clean…

Continue Reading Clean Water Challenge for 2021-2022!

Read The Greenway Blog
Thank You to Our Clean Water Design Challenge Sponsors
 
Mile High Flood District
Colorado Water Conservation Board
Molson Coors
Barr-Milton Watershed Association
Colorado Association of Stormwater and Floodplain Managers
Department of Public Health and the Environment
 

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Stewardship Events

May 18
12:00 pm - 4:00 pm

GLC: Archery at Barr Lake State Park

May 27
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm

SPREE Camp Meet & Greet

May 31
8:00 am - 11:00 am

Pacifico Preserves Spring South Platte Stewardship Day

Jun 20
9:00 am - 12:00 pm

One Water Day 2025

Jun 20
June 20 @ 12:00 pm - June 21 @ 10:00 am

GLC: Kayaking & Camping

View Calendar

Current News

Young Professionals Kick Off Earth Day Season

On April 17th, The Greenway Foundation organized a Young Professionals Trash Pick Up and Happy Hour at Cuernavaca Park. Young Professionals is a group that meets several times throughout the …

More Blog Posts

Event Recap: Teens Took Action at Johnson Habitat Park! 

An Unforgettable Winter Adventure: High School Students Hit the Trail!

The Greenway Leadership Corps’ Frozen Adventure at Echo Lake

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The Greenway Foundation

1820 Platte Street, Denver, CO 80202

info@greenwayfoundation.org

303.481.1974

FEIN: 51-0193575

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