While NGOs and governmental organizations often lead the charge in the fight for clean drinking water, one Indian teenager is leading the way on her own.

The teenager is a 16-year-old girl named Prakriti Singh.

“After my grandfather died of jaundice and certain reports about water contamination in Delhi, I toured interiors of Bihar studying water scarcity and contamination issues,” she said in an interview with the Press Trust of India. “But it wasn’t feasible for me to work there, hence I decided to start with Delhi.”

She said that more than 200 families living in Madanpur Khadar consume unsafe drinking water. Because of this, she sent water samples to a laboratory for analysis.

To raise the necessary funds for the purification system, Singh baked and sold cakes. She obtained some money in donations from companies who responded to her requests.

Thanks to the helping hand of Project Why, an NGO with experience in the area, a local school became the home of the water purification system. The system is an Aqua Pristine RO 250 LPH and it can purify some 1,500 liters of water daily.

According to Singh, both families and students of the school maintain access to the clean drinking water. Because of the educational deficiencies with respect to water awareness in the area, Singh decided to appoint “water ambassadors” throughout the school. The ambassadors help to inform the population about clean drinking water.

Since the installation, Singh has helped to install another purification system. She intends to install another one in the future.

India, which has a population of over 1.2 billion people, is one of the fastest growing countries in the world. However, in a country where diarrhea, hepatitis and typhoid kill on a regular basis, maintaining access to legitimate water sources is key to a healthy population.

– Ethan Safran

Sources: The Hindu, CIA
Photo: electropolishing