13 year old boy uses human hair to treat water pollution | Fusion - WeRIndia

13 year old Nikhilesh Das, a 7^th grader living Assam has come up with unique solutions to address the global problem of water pollution by oil spills. Since his childhood, he was a curios mind. When he found out about the devastation that oil spills cause to water, he wanted to find a solution for it.

Three incidents in his life gave him three different ways to fight oil spills. He says that his mother used to put oil on his hair which he hated as it would stick and not come off. This made him wonder if human hair could separate oil from water. He tried his idea and was met with success by removing 90 percent of oil in 30 seconds.

One day he saw a documentary which showed migratory birds that died due to oil spillage. He then came up with idea to use bird feathers to separate oil from water. His second experiment was a success too.

His third idea came when he saw a carpenter who spilled oil on the ground use sawdust to absorb it. He then experimented on using saw dust to separate oil from water and did so successfully.

Nikhilesh’s work has earned him many school and national awards. His simple yet unique innovation also won him an INK fellowship in 2011.

Image Reference: Thebetterindia