The Future City Competition exposes the students to engineering and hopefully inspires them to pursue engineering careers. The competition also teaches students about problem-solving, team work, research and presentation and computer skills. With help from the teachers and mentors, the students used SimCity 4 Deluxe software to develop their future city design. The teams then wrote an essay and abstract on this year's theme to "create a self sufficient system within the home which conserves, recycles and reuses all existing water sources." After the essay and abstracts, the fun part began and the students built a scale model of their future city. Then it was off to the Regional Competition to present their city of the future to a panel of engineer judges.

In an age where water is becoming more precious and scarcer every day, the students were challenged to go beyond the ordinary and traditional conservation, desalinization and water treatment discussion. They were challenged to design a self-sustaining home system or process that requires little or no water from commercial or municipal sources, public or private wells or water supply trucks to replenish the home supply. The National Green Building Council was the national sponsor of this year's Future City essay.

Although the student's essays—like their Future City designs—dealt with hypothetical models, they were nonetheless rooted in reality. The competition encouraged students to draw on resources such as the latest research in scientific papers and even interviews with top experts from around the globe. You can see the detail of their work as they describe their water management system they use to protect the infrastructure of the city in the following excerpt from the essay of this year's winning team…

China in 2175 has become a clean water battlefield due to extreme pollution. Xi Wang Zhi Cheng has overcome this challenge by implementing the revolutionary Molecular Contaminant Disassembly (MCD) technology that enables self-sufficient water management. The city is located in mountainous central China on the Yangtze River. Its 55,000 residents live in 35 story high-rise complexes. The generous 6,000 sf floor plan with single and duplex homes provides comfortable living space for 3-8 occupants. Each unit operates in self-sufficient water and energy mode.

The exterior stormwater system consists of three main components: roof and surface runoff collection, Distributed Storage System (DSS), and municipal connection. Green rooftops filter and collect rainwater using drainage piping. The building management system directs the rainwater to DSS tanks in each unit and maintains required water levels based on ultrasonic level sensor inputs. Green roof water, landscape seepage, and surface runoff are transported via storm water piping into three 75,000-gallon storage tanks.

The winning team was "Xi Wang Zhi Cheng (City of Hope)" from Valley Middle School, Oakland, NJ. pictured: Noel Kriftcher, (NYU-Poly David Packard Center), Judith Vihonski, (Teacher), Jignasa Ray, (NYC Transit/IEEE), Tim Ward (Langan Engineering), Helena Tam (HDR/Future City Planning Committee), Michael Lorczak (ASCE Met Section President), Robert Matts, Jack Maguire, Lily Li (Students).

Runoff from public spaces is redirected to the central water treatment facility, where potable and grey water is treated and stored in the municipal reserve. A selective water supply system distributes three grades of water to fixtures: potable water for drinking and cooking, semi-potable for dishwashers, showers, and faucets, and non-potable for irrigation and toilets.

Our wastewater system also consists of three piping systems. Water from showers, sinks and dishwashers (System-1) is captured and processed in our MCD. Wastewater is separately collected from our toilets (System-2) and air humidity condensate (System-3). This water is transferred to the MCD, for purification.

Appliances are equipped with water conserving technologies such as misting showers, dry toilets, dishwashers and faucets, which reduce usage from 50 to 4 gallons a day per household. Dry toilets, covered with a selfcleaning superhydrophobic coating, minimize the need for lubricant and keep them sanitary. After temperature treatment, dry granulate compost is collected and transferred to rooftop gardens.

Residents wear smart clothes containing discerning nano-sensors that monitor contamination levels and utilize carbon dioxide for self-cleaning. Dishes are coated with a layer of nanofilm, requiring minimal care. Xi Wang Zhi Cheng also uses xeriscaping (native planting) that eliminates landscape irrigation.

The complexity of new technologies creates challenges in maintenance and operation efficiency. Increased maintenance requires highly qualified, yet costly service staff. Moreover, operating the systems at peak efficiency at all times is a difficult task and is only possible with the introduction of more technology: the Computerized Control System (CCS) that orchestrates and optimizes all operations. The CCS eliminates municipal reliance.

The Molecular Contaminant Disassembly (MCD) system, with a nano-robot (nBot) colony, is the core technology that processes and transforms wastewater into potable water. The system consists of modular housing, carbon nanotube filter banks, nBot colony with a molecular building block pack, and an intelligent controller. The five types of wastewater enter the system in different compartments. Worker nBots break down physical and chemical pollutants to a molecular scale. The colony adapts to specific contaminants by producing specialized nBots. Scouts monitor contamination levels, demographics, and health of the population. The controller adjusts the population by constructing and decommissioning nBots. After the contaminant disassembly process, water is filtered through carbon nano-tube membranes using nano-pumps. Three different grades of water are sent to the associated water distribution systems.

A clear advantage of the self-healing MCD is that it requires minimal maintenance and automatically adjusts to meet demand, without chemical additives. The modularity creates a scalable system that can be adapted to building sizes. When the MCD operates at partial load it is able to generate excess potable water and redirect it to the municipal potable water reserve or to other units in the complex. This trade of potable water becomes a source of revenue for the residents. The municipal water storage is also used to start up and back up the system. In addition, it supplies grey water to the DSS. While water engineers in existing technologies have designed piping, water distribution, and collection systems, a molecular robotics engineer is needed to implement new technologies. These engineers design, create, and maintain the nanorobotic colony and monitor its operation. Molecular robotic engineers have helped Xi Wang Zhi Cheng create the world's most advanced water management system.

The 2009 New York City Regional Future City Competition was the culmination of months of planning, designing and hard work by the all the students, teachers and volunteers involved with this program. We couldn't make this program a success without the more than 100 local engineers that volunteered to help with the program. Special thanks go out to the New York City Regional Coordinator, Ms. Karen Armfield and Ms. Helena Tam of the ASCE Met Section and Dr. Noel Kriftcher of Polytechnic Institute of NYU's David Packard Center for Technology and Educational Alliances. The continued support of this program from these organizations and the generosity of corporate sponsors from the engineering community allows hundreds of students each year the opportunity to experience the challenges of engineering first hand through a collaborative learning environment. Go to www.futurecity.org for more information. Here are some of the highlights from this year's competition:

2009 Regional Competition Award and Prize Winners

First Place “Xi Wang Zhi Cheng” Valley Middle School Oakland, NJ $5,000 Annual Student Scholarships
Second Place “Sun Sand City” Islip Middle School Islip, NY $2,000 Annual Student Scholarships Third Place (tie) “Amala Saher” Valley Middle School Oakland, NJ $1,000 Annual Student Scholarships	Third Place (tie) “Poseidon” Michelanglo MS 144 Bronx, NY $1,000 Annual Student Scholarships Fourth Place “Leilano City” Myra S. Barnes - I.S. 24 Staten Island, NY

2009 Special Award Winners and Sponsors