Nerinx Hall High School InvenTeam

The Water Treatment and Transportation Apparatus (WTTA) was inspired by two students who visited southern Mexico during a spring-break service trip and witnessed many problems within the community. The WTTA was designed to ease the burden of women who were tasked with hauling five-gallon buckets of water to their homes as needed; and moreover, to provide cleaner water that would not cause their families to be sick. The students developed an inexpensive device from indigenous materials that uses a filtration system to remove E. coli, while transporting many more gallons of water. Students from the all-girl InvenTeam returned to Mexico to test the WTTA prototype with its intended beneficiaries, noting improvements for the invention. The InvenTeam sees prospects for a micro-enterprise business for other people in developing nations to benefit from its invention. In March 2007, the InvenTeam students were recognized by the United Nations.