Ana enjoys sailing, crew, and being a Seascout. She stays active with fencing, tae kwon do, and horseback riding and also participates in her school's speech, drama, and debate clubs. Because she is very concerned about the environment, she would like to become an environmental lawyer. Ana's seventh grade science teacher is her mentor because "she has shown me how important scientific research is to the future of our world."
When Ana learned that her hometown was not part of the greater Miami sewer system, but instead relied on septic tanks, she wanted to know what happened to all the waste water. Did some of it leak into the ground and ultimately find its way into her city's beautiful canals and lakes, where it could harm fish and other animals?
Ana mapped her city's septic tanks, identifying eight areas with between zero and eight septic tanks per acre. She sampled 500 ml of water from canals near each location. She resampled after two months of drought. She tested all the samples for ammonia. During the rainy season, ammonia levels in locations with four or more septic tanks per acre exceeded federal standards. During the dry season, though, the ammonia levels in all areas skyrocketed, exceeding the federal standards by a factor of 100 or more.
