Our project is a hydroponic irrigation system that can increase the Uber Street Organic Garden's crop yield. Hydroponics is the process of growing plants in a nutrient/water solution as opposed to the standard 'plant in the ground' method. The nutrients involved are nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Because the plants are being fed nutrients directly, they don't have to expend energy on making their own food and can spend more effort growing, resulting in the crops growing faster and healthier. In order to procure water in a completely green system, we are attaching a stormwater collection tank that will catch all rainwater and allow a pump to circulate the water along with the nutrients through our PVC constructed system. In addition, the pump will be solar powered, making our hydroponic system 100% self-sustaining and environmentally friendly.

We also hope to build a shed that will house tools and the stormwater collection tank and have a rain gutter that will catch most rainwater in its vicinity and direct it into the tank. The shed will also have the solar panel fixed on top of the roof and pitched at an angle that will gain the maximum amount of sunlight every day. According to our calculations, our entire system can go eight consecutive cloudy days on its own.