An Inexpensive Water Filtration System for Removing Arsenic & Improving Rural Health

On a summer vacation trip to my grandfather's village in Bangladesh, I saw how many people were suffering from arsenicosis, a disease caused by consuming toxic levels of arsenic-contaminated water. Many villagers had a variety of diseases like skin cancers, kidney cancers, blood vessel diseases, and neurological impairments. After seeing many people's health issues, I decided to create an inexpensive arsenic filtration system using natural materials. I found that laterite soil could be used as the key ingredient to adsorb arsenic due to the material's rich iron content. I then found that the One Step Red Soil Filtration System (OSRSF) was able to reduce the concentration of arsenic in water quite a bit yet not significantly. I presented these findings to the 2020 AJAS conference. After working on the filtration system and going back to the US, I decided to conduct a 10 month longitudinal study to see if there were changes in people's health by using the system. I also decided to replace the tin container of the OSRSF with a clay one. Thus, I returned to Bangladesh the next summer to do more work. I found that there was a significant decrease in the amount of arsenic in the water due to using the system with the new modification. From here, I flew back to the US and did experiments in a lab to investigate changes in the immune system due to using the filtration system. I found that cells treated with filtered water had more viability and less cell death markers than cells treated with unfiltered water. After finding these results, I decided to participate in the South Carolina Junior Academy of Science competition to present my work in 2021. I fortunately was selected to then participate in the national conference. Some months then passed and many things happened, including graduating from high school and getting into Harvard. Although I am now a freshman in college, I am excited to participate in AJAS once more!