The issue of having clean water affects everyone, no matter where they live in the world. Thinking about water purification in new ways by using available materials was what inspired Lalita Prasida Sripada Srisai and helped the 14-year-old student from India win the Google Science Fair prize and Scientific American’s Community Impact Award for 2015. Lalita will receive $10,000 in a funding grant and a year-long mentorship from Scientific American.
Lalita, through observation, noticed the corn cobs that farmers usually discarded. Not even the farm animals would consume them. Lalita brought home some of the shriveled corn cobs and put them in a bowl of grey water on the table of her family’s kitchen. When she came back, she observed that the water looked clearer.
Lalita got the idea to repurpose the corn cobs because they were both environmentally friendly and available in abundance. When water is poured through Lalita’s filtration device, different water contaminants are removed by going through consecutive levels of corn cobs. When Lalita took her invention to her school’s chemistry lab and ran tests on the water quality, it was determined that between 70 and 80 per cent of contaminants in the water had been removed.
Other tests will be required before Lalita’s filtration system can be marketed to farmers, but she hopes that the simple system can be used to help farmers in her country and around the world clean up waterways in a cost effective and environmentally friendly way.
It’s wonderful to see Lalita’s commitment to making sure her community and other communities have clean water. The future of clean water depends on people like her to keep drinking water safe for everyone in the future. At Metro Water Filter, we are committed to helping ensure that clean water is available to everyone today and tomorrow. We can help the water treatment system for your business or city in good condition or we can help you when considering an upgrade your system so that it can handle increased demand. Contact us today for more information.