BOISE -- A Timberline High School student was honored by Google Tuesday night for his efforts to remove lead from drinking water.
Alex Howard is the North American regional winner of the first Google Science Fair Community Impact Award.
Howard said he was inspired by the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan to create an affordable lead filter.
"Right now in Flint, what they're doing is they're relying on bottled water and those activated charcoal filters to live off their water now, and they don't really have anything else so far," he said. "I wanted to find something that was long-term."
Howard's design uses simple products including sugar, water and even seashells to safely remove lead. He hopes the filter can be used to decontaminate drinking water around the US until lead pipes can be replaced.
"Hopefully we can get more research on that done, so that more people will look into it and make sure it's credible and it can be used for people who may be in a tough situation," Howard said.
Howard will receive a $1,000 scholarship and a mentor to help advance his project, as well as an all-expenses paid trip to Google headquarters in Mountain View, California for the science fair awards celebration.