The Pennsbury Land Trust presented its first ever Student Environmental Stewardship Award to Birmingham Township resident Megan Shea.

Shea, a senior at Unionville High School, was one of 40 students nationwide invited to the White House as a finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search. Her project involved using natural materials, seeds from the Moringa oleifera plant, sand and other locally available material as a water filter for areas of the world that don’t have access to modern resources. The materials are native to areas where there is a potable water problem.

“I was trying to make something totally out of household items,” she said prior to the land trust’s annual meeting at the township building on April 10. “So, if you’re in an area that doesn’t have another type of filter, you can make something with what you already have.”

She said only four inches of material can eliminate 99 percent of E. coli that cause serious, and sometimes fatal infections.

Shea will graduate from high school this June and plans to major in a combination of biology and environmental engineering, but she doesn’t yet know where she’ll be going to college. She’s still weighing her options.

“May first is the big decision day.”

In presenting the award to Shea, Holly Manzone, president of the land trust, said she hopes there will be enough students for the award to be an annual event.

Manzone, a Pocopson Township resident, has been the president for the past year. While the goal of the trust is land preservation through easements, Manzone said stream watch is also important and a stream watch team has been set up.

That team goes out and monitors several streams, testing the water chemistry and the presence of organisms.

“The real telling test is the macro invertebrate testing. This is a biological test. You can measure all the chemistry you want, but the bottom line is a healthy stream will support life,” she said. “A healthy stream will support diversity.”

Manzone wants to continue the stream watch as well as outreach and education along with land preservation through easements.

The award given to Shea is part of the outreach goal, Manzone said.

“We realize that we really need to get young people involved,” she said.

Photo: Unionville High School senior Megan Shea explains her water filtration project to members of the Pennsbury Land Trust.