For most high school students, summer means leisure, friends, and college preparation. For Harshit Sanghi, then in Grade 10, it meant long hours surrounded by circuit boards, wires, and water samples. His motivation began with something deeply personal: the illness of a young boy named Shyam, the son of his family’s house-help, who fell sick after drinking contaminated water.

The incident opened Harshit’s eyes to an unsettling reality. In many parts of India, people still struggle to access clean drinking water even when it looks clear. When Harshit searched for affordable testing options, he found that existing water kits were either too costly or too technical for ordinary users. “It bothered me that affordability and understanding were such big barriers,” he says.

Determined to act, Harshit contacted Professor Umesh Kulshreshtha at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s School of Environmental Sciences, seeking guidance on how to create a solution. Under the professor’s mentorship, he began developing Nirmal Dhara, a compact, real-time water quality sensor designed to be simple and inexpensive.

Using basic electronic components and a microcontroller, Harshit built a device that could test water for turbidity and key minerals, converting complex readings into color signals. Green meant safe, red meant unsafe. “I wanted something even a child could interpret,” he says. After multiple trials, the prototype worked successfully. The innovation earned him a place among the Top 50 finalists at the IRIS National Fair, one of India’s leading platforms for young scientific talent.

However, innovation alone did not guarantee acceptance. When Harshit demonstrated his device in Sultanpur, a rural community affected by poor water quality, the villagers were cautious. Many were unsure whether to trust a city student with unfamiliar technology.

Rather than giving up, Harshit chose to listen. He spent time with families, learning about their concerns and values. “I realized that technical facts do not always persuade people. You have to connect with what matters to them,” he says.

He translated the instructions into Hindi, replaced data charts with simple drawings, and explained the benefits in terms of family health and community pride. When a local volunteer tested both the village tap and a nearby hand pump, the device showed unsafe and safe results respectively. The clear difference convinced the villagers to start using the pump until their local authorities repaired the contaminated source.

The success of Nirmal Dhara became the beginning of a larger mission. Harshit later collaborated with Hamari Pahchan NGO to distribute the device in other regions and worked with Hara Jeevan, an environmental organization studying aquatic ecosystems. The data from his sensor now supports research on water parameters such as pH, dissolved oxygen, and nutrient balance, helping improve water conservation efforts.

What began as a response to one child’s illness has grown into a movement for accessible environmental technology. At 17, Harshit Sanghi has shown that meaningful change begins with compassion, persistence, and the belief that clean water should be a right for everyone.