Henry Hepp, a second-grader at Washington Elementary, says you can if you use his homemade rain collector.
Henry won an eco-invention contest at Washington Elementary School on Wednesday for his project.
The contest, sponsored by Doubletree hotels, is meant to encourage kids to incorporate into a science project what they’ve learned about air pollution, waste management, water reuse and energy conservation.
The “Great Community Eco-Invention Competition” occurred in 150 schools nationwide.
The second-place award went to fourth-grader Abby Austin, who created a disinfectant kit for water bottles.
As winners of the local contest, Henry and Abby will have their projects evaluated with several others in Los Angeles. The top three selections in that contest will go to an all-expense paid trip to Seattle for the finals.
In Seattle, students will display their eco-inventions at the premiere of the Exploring Trees Inside and Out Environmental Education Exhibit developed by Doubletree Hotels and The Arbor Day Foundation at the Pacific Science Center in February 2008.
At Washington Elementary, the winners’ inventions were as creative as they were simple. The top part of Henry’s rain collector is an upside-down lampshade that acts as a funnel. The lampshade is taped to an empty orange juice container, at the bottom of which rests a coffee filter. Finally, the juice container is connected to a coffee can, into which the filtered water trickles.
“You can drink it, shower with it, water the plants,” he said. Abby’s disinfectant kit is even simpler: a plastic mesh, onto which several straws are glued. After spraying the water bottles with her disinfectant, she places them upside down over the straws, to hold them in place. The entire contraption, she advised, should be used near the kitchen sink, where the dishes are done.
The judges, who included City Councilmen Das Williams and Roger Horton, as well as the school’s new principal Demian Barnett, also chose two honorable mention winners.
One was for “The Trashy Bag” by second-grader Meghan McTague, who created a little purse from which protrudes a toilet-paper tube. The idea is to pick up litter while looking stylish.
The other was for an elaborate air filter built out of plastic tubes and cardboard by second-grader Daniel Murphy.