Mannat Kaur, a class XII student of DPS RK Puram, Delhi, whose innovative solution (design and prototype) on conservation and treatment of household greywater (a relatively clean waste water generated in washing, bathing and to a little extent in kitchen) made her a jal dhoot or water ambassador of Govt of India and national winner of World Water Prize this year, is determined to get this technology and product off the shelf as it would be one of the needed green technologies to help manage water resources at home. She has applied for an IPO and is also thinking of connecting with technical and marketing experts to see how this can be made into a real-world product.
While proving that applied research is indeed kids play, Mannat’s project work is a case study for many who want to see how school level research ecosystem has really come of age and there is a world out there for bright minds to think beyond curriculum. Her project work which spans almost four years has also ingrained die-hard sustainability values in her future choices.
The DIY science gift (Arduino kit) from her architect father brought home along with access to the Atal Innovation Lab at her junior school not only made her logical but also turned her into a curious child playing around with learning assembly and disassembly of hardware and meters, etc. Her fascination towards hands-on activities early on became a passion to the extent that she is better known as a ‘soldering iron girl’ to her classmates and friends. “That journey early on with soldering iron and hands on has helped me connect to tech at a very fundamental level, and now I have added python and ML to my skills portfolio to enjoy STEM more,” she says on how she developed her interest step by step towards computer science, which she currently studying in her school. She is also a head girl of the school now and a leading student in activities of school’s Exun Clan Department.
But it is her water conservation project that made her a must in eco club and her knowledge on water related environmental issues, which has made her a strong student voice in this field. The genesis and journey of her project is a four-year story of exploration, trips and meetings with experts, celebrations and an innovator.
Starting with the premise that treating water centrally needs lot of pumping energy and then more energy for treatment processes and finally the distribution of treated water back into supply, her idea was to see if grey water, a relatively clean water coming from households in form of used water in washing and bathing besides some in kitchens can be treated at source to address the water scarcity and a better environmental impact. For this she had to begin researching the problem statement as to why households don’t see such a thing favorably. While talking to end users she found the mental block was related to the notion that implementing a treating system at home will require a lot of space and there being various points of grey water generation, it will be difficult to collect it.
Supported by her mentors and technical help from others, she created a design for device that would make the need of space very compact and then used detachable containers to main streamline collection of this water. Then the filtration process had to be efficient. There was a lot of thought that went into this. “The idea was to give users a solution to manage their water resources at home that fills the gap between knowledge and practical aspects of this knowledge and convince them that such a thing is possible,” she adds.
She got to know about the potential of water conservation innovative ideas being promoted by the ministry of Jal Shakti, the message of which taken by CBSE to schools. She started the basic ideation of this project in class 8 where she used her learning from Atal tinkering lab quite a bit to automate water conservation process at household level. After she joined her current school in class 9, her physics teacher who has been a constant guide and helped her get in touch with right people. Around the same time, she qualified for the Lodha Genius Program. This multi-year educational programme supported by Lodha Group in association with Ashoka University is fully funded and nurtures India’s brightest young minds from Grade 9 to their early career.
Once she enrolled in the programme, she was spotted by Aun Abdyullah, sustainability head of the Lodha group, who was instrumental in getting her in touch with real environmental engineers and technicians in STP at a company specializing in this technology. These meetings and visits made her understand the nuisances of technology that she tried to incorporate while designing for the model. Then her school and principal in particular really stood behind her in this project work with consistent encouragement.
Her ideation for the project was on the development of a decentralized greywater treatment unit which collects, treats, and reuses grey water generated in a household at the source. Based on two units—Scupper Valve and Bilge Vessel, she designed a collection cum filtration system that works on the principle of gravity and can be implemented without any major modifications in the current home plumbing system and takes up very little space in the bathroom. Being a DIY enthusiast and mentor support from Lodha genius program experts, she developed the first prototype and tested it at her home. After the results were encouraging and convincing at various levels as she showcased and talked about it, the next big thing happened as the Stockholm Junior Water Prize India (SJWP India) happened. For India, it would be its first ever participation and with IIT Madras involved in it, Mannat also got technical assistance from professors there. IIT Madras served as the national organizer for World Water Prize.
“Over the time, when I was preparing for the competition and got in touch with the professors at IIT Madras, it really made me understand and interpret the results. The professors helped me make connection in IIT Delhi where I got some assistance. Then I also got indirect help from DST in getting my design 3D printed,” she says. With all this learning, assistance and her programming skills and application of ML, she incorporated some of it into a second improvised protype, which was taken to Sweden for the competition.
Mannat competed against 350 applicants from 23 states at the national level and emerged as the winner, earning the opportunity to represent her country. “The top 12 shortlisted teams were invited to present their projects in person at the IIT Madras campus, where my project was selected,” she adds. Though she didn’t win at world stage, but it was enough to make her believe in potential of her prototype (currently being prepared to be used in a school block) would one day becoming a household product.
“More than 80% of our housing societies and clusters are old and not designed to handle water treatment. This in turn puts a lot of pressure on STPs. Treating water at mega plants also about using more energy and resources, so with my innovation, we can reduce carbon footprint a great deal. See, a single-family can save around 5,000-6,000 litres of precious potable water per month and can reduce 50% of their water demand. This decentralized approach reduces carbon emissions by 80- 85% compared to the traditional centralized sewage treatment setups (water pumping and operational energy), offsetting 18,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. Additionally, due to lower sewage output, it contributes towards embodied carbon savings linked to the plumbing network infrastructure and construction of sewage treatment plants. This solution, therefore, addresses two main challenges viz-a-viz water scarcity and operational carbon emissions associated with freshwater supply, wastewater treatment and conveyance of treated water. I have also filed the provisional patent application with the Indian Patent Office,” she says.
Getting into STEM so passionately has taken her to several competitions and discover a whole world of supporting ecosystem. Her research paper on AI and surrogate modeling design, her talks on water and knowledge of environmental and social impacts of green technology, have made her a role model for young girls who otherwise keep a safe distance from STEM and robotics. “I have this observation, girls don’t get into STEM or robotics, they think it is a complicated journey. But I want to say, this is fascinating with ample opportunities to live your dream if your idea has the potential. There are many competitions where you can take your idea, there are mentors and help, funding and even seed funding to develop prototypes. First, it is you who have to know that your idea has the potential and have the drive to go beyond school curriculum to research and search your topic and help,” she adds.
Mannat, who has already applied to several top ranked universities abroad is hoping to take up computer science as a major while continuing her interdisciplinary learning of civil engineering and passion for sustainability at college to see what could be the next go for her project, which is an integral part of her future plans.
