Runoff study wins duo top honour

WELL GROUNDED: Science Fair winners Kiani Pou and Nathan Tarawa, of Northland College, with their teacher Jenny Edwards and Top Energy chief executive Russell Shaw.

A project examining how farmers can combat one of New Zealand's most pressing environmental problems has earned two Northland College students the title of the Far North's top young scientists.

Kiani Pou, of Taheke, and Nathan Tarawa, of Otaua, won the senior section of the Top Energy Far North Science and Technology Fair with a project called "Where's that P? Phosphorus runoff in Northland soils".

The winners were announced at the Turner Centre in Kerikeri on Friday.

The 17-year-olds' long-running project measured phosphorus runoff at the school farm in Kaikohe after the application of different kinds of fertiliser.

Nathan said runoff could kill fish, eels and other freshwater life. Too much phosphorus in the water caused eutrophication, in which a surplus of nutrients caused rapid growth of algae and starved other life of oxygen.

Their aim was to come up with a strategy allowing the school farm to avoid polluting local waterways, Kiani said.

They found runoff could be minimised by switching to RPR (reactive phosphate rock) fertiliser, although it is less popular among farmers because of its slow release. Superphosphate was the worst in terms of runoff.

Nathan said their findings could be applied to farms around Northland with similar soils.

Kiani said they could not have won without the help and hard work of their science teacher, Jenny Edwards.

Next year Kiani hopes to study agricultural sciences at Lincoln University. Nathan wants to study apiculture (beekeeping) at Telford.

Chief judge Julie Harrisson said the winning project was relevant, applicable to Northland farms, and carried out over a long period of time with clear goals.

Normally the $1000 top prize is shared among co-winners but sponsor Top Energy doubled it so each still took home the full amount.

The other big winner was Shani Eisenmann of Waima in South Hokianga. The Kerikeri High School student received the $1000 Northland Regional Council excellence award for her project, which examined gorse growth.