GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. --More than a billion people across the world lack access to safe water. But, some local students are creating devices to try to help.
Central Woodland students took learning to a new level today, creating a water purifying device that will be sent to villages around the world, and all it takes is a little salt and a whole lot of enthusiasm.
The school's sixth grade class is taking care people one purifying system at a time.
"We're using just food grade table salt only and we're converting this by electrochemistry with one of these chlorine production units. We convert the table salt into food grade chlorine and we had 10 drop per liter wait the 30 minutes and it's ready to drink," says Rich Grant with Safe Water International Ministries.
The device is called a chlorine production unit.
Students raised $5,000 for the project, allowing them to not only build 50 units but help Safe Water International Ministries deliver them to villages in Africa and India.
"So for a whole village of a thousand people or for a village of 10,000 people it costs $50 for the titanium and the parts," Grant said. "So here the school is building we're making 50 villages of equipment in just a very short period of time."
And these students are changing lives in just a matter of hours.
"They go station to station and can't wait to see their end product, test it, make sure it works and finish their day. This is, I think, probably the most exciting thing they're doing today," says Central Woodland School Counselor Judy Bouley.
And as exciting as the project may be, it's also shocking to some of the students.
"At first I didn't but then when I was over testing it and it came out clean and it smelled like chlorine the first time it just, it was amazing," says Teague Greer, Central Woodlands 6th grader.
The cross curriculum project is inspiring students.
"I think it's really cool because we're saving peoples' lives," says 6th grader Alex Ophoff.
"We'll like never know these people but we'll still make an impact on their life," adds 6th grader Ashley Marthens.
The Safe Water International Ministries will deliver the CPUs the students built to Uganda, Kenya, Liberia, and Ghana as well as India in upcoming months. To find out more about the national organization and this project click here.
