In many countries, people have to ask themselves the same question every single day – is the water I have access to safe to drink? According to the World Health Organization, at least 1.8 billion people are drinking contaminated water. Many of those contaminates are derived from consumer electronics, mobile devices, and batteries.
Right now, treating that water involves costly and time-consuming process such as chlorination and distillation. But what if there was a way to not only filter the water – but to do it cheaply? That’s exactly what 18-year-old Perry Alagappan of Houston did when he designed a water filter that will only cost about $20.
It’s a project that earned him the Stockholm Junior Water Prize at this year’s World Water Week in Sweden.