An 11 year old, aspirational scientist named Gitanjali Rao has won the prestigious “America’s Young Scientist” award in a recent competition. She was named the winner of the scientific competition for her invention of a device that easily separates lead from water.

The device that Gitanjali invented is a small portable apparatus that consists of nanotubes to quickly examine water for lead. The device supports integration with digital platforms to make the results available on apps immediately as well.

Gitanjali watched her parents test water for lead after the Flint crisis and later quickly learned that the current ways of testing water were not very efficient. One of the most widely used ways of testing water is by using test stripes, which are inconsistent and do not guarantee accurate results.

The other method of testing water requires household to send water samples to the EPA. The method consumes a lot of time as well as incurs heavy costs.

According to Gitanjali, her device is capable of distinguishing lead from water in a simple and cost-effective manner. The device has been named “Tethys” – After the Greek god of pure water.