Innovation truly matters when used for the larger good, and in our case, it was to fulfil a basic necessity,” says 16-year-old Shreya Sinha, Zila School, Gaya.

The availability of clean drinking water is a huge problem in Gaya, Bihar. It is one of the most prominent issues that residents have to battle every day. Shreya wanted to do something to bring about change in this battle.

That idea, shaped into reality with a team and with the help of teachers, is the ‘Dew and Air Water Generator’.

She, along with Prem Sagar and Pritam Kumar, spent months to create a successful prototype that can harvest water vapour from air.

Explaining the mechanism, Shreya adds, “Water is available all around us, if not in liquid form, then in other forms. So, with our device, we are collecting dew and moisture from the air to convert it into water.”

This water is then purified and converted into potable water. Depending on the temperature, the best source generates water. For instance, during the winters, morning dew is used, while during summers, the moisture in the atmosphere is used.

At this stage, the device takes an hour to produce one litre of purified drinking water. With better tech and research, the team hopes to make it more efficient by increasing the capacity so that more water can be produced in lesser time.

The team further plans to improve the prototype by making it solar powered.

“When living in close quarters with the issues plaguing society, one tends to look for solutions to these everyday problems. This is one such solution, and I hope it will be able to help society at large,” says Shreya.