Lamonte Pierce, a student from Jackson State University in Mississippi, invented a straw, called Cleanstraww, to help against lead and other contamination problems in drinking water. He was motivated to do so when he grew bored with boil-water alerts from the city where he lives. The problem isn’t an isolated incident to Jackson, Mississippi, either. Millions of homes across the country suffer from the hazard of contaminated water, which has been linked to various health problems.
Pierce told ABC 16:
Every time I look around, there is a boil-water alert. Matter of fact, when I woke up (Friday) morning to take a shower, the water was coming out brown — literally muddy, sludge brown. Imagine having to drink something like that. You shouldn’t have to go out and buy water when you have it flowing through your house.
The benefits of Cleanstraww:
- It’s cheaper than bottled water, water filters, and sickness.
- It’s lightweight, disposable, convenient, and fits into all cups.
- It filters lead out of up to 20 gallons of water.
- It’s effortless to clean and can be used anywhere, anytime.
- It’s cheap to produce and transport so it would be a perfect solution for poorer places around the world that don’t have clean running water.
- It can be used with an app that tells the user when the straw needs to be replaced.
- It filters out lead, viruses, and microbes.
- Drinking clean water eliminates the risk of long- and short-term health issues.
- It helps with the plastic pollution crisis since you don’t need to buy water in a single-use bottle.
How It Works
- Inside the straw is a 3-step filtering process.
- The filter is made of unique patented FDA compliant material.
- When the water runs through it, particles and sediments are separated from the water instantly.
To develop Cleanstraww, Pierce partnered with a fellow JSU graduate, Andrew Wills. Together, they designed the invention as part of a 3D-printing challenge at a cyberlearning summit on the campus. The project went so well they patented the idea, and Walmart has offered them a vendor contract to supply 4,000 stores with their product. Pierce hasn’t yet launched the item but hopes they’ll hit store shelves real soon!
