11-year-old builds 450-member water network and moss filter to tackle lead in school water

The 11-year-old designed a nature-inspired filter to remove lead from school drinking water. At nine, Nithya Tammana noticed something happening in her own home that many people might have overlooked: clean drinking water was going down the drain while the shower water was being heated. Two years later, the girl from Monroe Township, New Jersey, has built a youth-led water conservation network, developed a nature-inspired filter designed to remove lead from school drinking water, and taken her campaign for water sustainability to policymakers.Her initiative, Save Drop, began in February 2024 with a simple idea - that small, everyday habits and larger infrastructure changes both matter when it comes to protecting water. Today, according to environmental organisation Action For Nature, Nithya leads a growing coalition of more than 450 young people known as “Water Warriors”, conducts weekly environmental leadership sessions and has helped students launch more than 100 local conservation clubs.Her work brings together three strands: preventing water wastage, encouraging communities to change everyday practices, and using innovation to address water quality.“When I realized how much inf...