Lead-contaminated tap water is still a problem in much of the world, where conventional lead removal filters may be too expensive for most households. An inexpensive new filter could help – and it was designed by a group of high school students.

The project is being spearheaded by Rebecca Bushway, who is a science teacher at Barrie Middle and Upper School in Silver Spring, Maryland. She was motivated after seeing video of a woman in Michigan turning on her tap, releasing a stream of water which was visibly brown with dissolved metals from her home’s pipes.

Bushway asked the students in her upper-level high school chemistry class if they could invent a low-cost filter that would remove lead from such water.