Student gives the drop on invasive algae

DIDYMO DESTROYER: St John's College student Kyle van de Pas with his Didy-Go dispenser.

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St John's College year 12 technology student Kyle van de Pas, 17, has come up with a dispensing device called Didy-Go, a possible remedy for an environmental concern which is particularly relevant right now the spread of the invasive algae didymo which has clogged South Island waterways.

"At the start of the year we had to come up with an issue and solve it with a technological outcome. I'm a mountain biker, I ride around Te Aroha and Morrinsville quite often. I wanted to so something related to mountain biking. I'd heard about the spread of didymo in the South Island. I decided to target this and my main user groups were mountain bikers and trampers with the focus being on helping them clean their gear. For example, they might cross three waterways in a day and if they are not cleaning gear such as boots and bikes, didymo can spread. I decided to provide them with something to help. Niwa was one of my major stakeholders and I spent a lot of time with scientist Sue Clearwater. At that point I realised that ways are being developed to kill didymo. A product called Snot-off has been designed and there are also household substances such as bleach, salt, hand cleaner and detergent that will do the job. The idea is to put one of these into a litre of water to wash down gear such as shoes and socks, tramping sticks and bike chains and tyres that have been exposed to a waterway.

I got a one-litre plastic bag made at Convex Plastics and attached a plastic squirt gun. I also included a small brush.

Beating didymo relies on people having a social conscience so the device had to be something that mountain bikers and trampers would use. Because of this there can't be too many barriers to using it. It had to be light and easy to carry and made to be rolled up into a small space and quickly assembled. For the substances I've listed on the bag such as salt, bleach etc, you add 5 per cent per litre of water and for Snot-off only 0.5 per cent because it's really strong.

A sticker on the bag shows dimensions for each substance and marks appropriate levels on the outside of the bag. That just makes it much easier and faster for the user.

You don't want to have to carry a litre of water around with you, so I asked Sue Clearwater whether possibly contaminated water from streams can be used in the bag. She said it isn't ideal but it will still work. That way you can re-fill the bag.

I did an informal survey of mountain bikers and trampers and found trampers are probably more likely to use it.

I'm pretty happy with it. It's all come together. I've produced a display unit for shops. It contains a brochure that I designed, then had produced by a Morrinsville company. It gives a background on didymo, describes what it looks and feels like, and gives instructions on how to use Didy-Go. It includes the advice Biosecurity New Zealand gives inspect, clean and dry.

At this stage I've developed only a prototype-type Didy-Go. I'm not sure how it might develop from here.

I quite like inventing. Last year in technology I made a curling stone with ball bearings so it could be used on a gym floor rather than ice. Ultimately I think I'd like to get into the CAD area in engineering. It looks pretty hard to get into but I'd like to do a Bachelor of Engineering. "

St John's College technology teacher Steve Andrew says: "I think Kyle's Didy-Go dispenser is great. At level 2 technology students are required to look at an issue and identify a problem and work to improve it. All of a sudden there was this opportunity and once, he started to investigate it Kyle found there were people working on a solution but they hadn't thought about dispensing it.

It proves that this sort of product doesn't have to be a grandiose big thing that is a monument to the student. As a tramper I can say that it works, too I've used it. It's probably going to be developed by someone somewhere along the line. And didymo is an issue that is very relevant right now.

It's great having companies like Convex Plastics that we can work with. We've developed some good links in the community that can assist students in areas that we wouldn't be able to work on in the school.

Over the last year or so we've developed a network. We've used it for mentoring students and also made use of the particular skills in each business." Interviewed by Geoff Taylor

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