STANDARDS

NGSS:  Core Idea: ETS1.B: Developing possible solutions

CCSS: Reading Informational Text: 3

TEKS: Science: 3.3A, 4.3A, 5.3A, 6.3A; ELA: 3.13, 4.11, 5.11, 6.10

Drop By Drop

How a teen is using oranges to fight water shortages

Paul Souders/Corbis/Getty Images (cracked ground); Kazyavka/Shutterstock.com (oranges)
Jim McMahon

A few years ago, a struck South Africa. The lack of rainfall hurt crops and food supplies. It has become the country’s worst drought in 30 years.

Kiara Nirghin, a 17-year-old South African, may have found a way to help. She developed a mixture that helps prevent soil from drying out. It could save crops during droughts. And it’s made mostly of orange peels!

Orange Aid
Watch a video about Kiara Nirghin's orange peel project.

Water Saver

The high schooler began by studying drought. “If you don’t understand the problem fully, you won’t understand whether or not your solution is effective,” she says.

Kiara learned that some rain usually does fall during droughts—just not enough. She wondered if she could capture raindrops that do fall and store them in the soil. The stored water could seep out over time to nourish crops.

Kiara researched materials, like those used in diapers. Some of these substances can soak up hundreds of times their own weight in liquid. But many of them are expensive and toxic to eat. Kiara needed something that was cheap and safe to use on crops. 

After hunting for a natural moisture absorber, Kiara discovered orange peels. The peels contain a substance called pectin. Because pectin absorbs water, it’s used to thicken foods like jam.

Orange peels are cheap because they’re usually thrown out. They also break down without harming the environment. Kiara suspected she could use orange peels to store moisture for plants. But she had to test her idea.

Deon Raath/Foto24/Gallo Images/Getty Images

Kiara explains her invention at the Google Science Fair.

Put to the Test

Kiara whipped up three recipes containing orange peel: a liquid, a powder, and a mixture that also included avocado skin and lemon juice. She did three experiments to determine the best one. First, she tested which material absorbed the most water. Then she blended each into a pot of soil and measured how much the soil dried out over time. Finally, she grew plants in soil with each material. She watered each plant a tiny amount, then monitored its health.

The tests had a clear winner: the mixture of orange peel, avocado skin, and lemon juice. Soil with this material in it held on to the most water. The plant lived without being watered for three weeks.

Kiara entered her project in the international Google Science Fair, where it won the grand prize last year. She hopes to make more of the mixture and give it to farmers to use on crops during droughts.

Kiara encourages other kids to tackle big problems. “Even if you’re young, you still have the ability to create something world-changing,” she says.

absorbent

something that soaks up liquid    

drought

a long period with little or no rain    

Text-to-Speech