Water the Future

By: Akshata T.
Year: 2022
School: Aliso Niguel High School
Grade: 11
Science Teacher: Robert Jansen

This project revolves around survival of plants without water, by comparing drought and non-drought resistant plants and how long they would survive.

In southern California we get a minimum amount of water to these plants without manual watering. In this project, different types of plants will be given little amounts of water replicating a drought. the student wanted to test just how much water a regular flower such as a daisy, needs before it dries up, in comparison to a plant like a succulent that has adapted to extreme weathers where it gets little to no water per year.

The student collected data of the plants on a course of 4 weeks. Every week the student observed how the plants look and feel, without getting water.

At the end of the 4 weeks, the student noticed that the Dracaena and the Spanish Lavender, two drought resistant plants, did not live up to the expectations. The Viola, which was a non-drought resistant plant, was dead at the end of our testing period. However, the Taciveria, a drought resistant plant, lived very well, and most likely could’ve lived for even longer without water.