Indian student wins design award for water producing 'leaf'

"Leaf" an 18-feet tall solar powered water condensation unit designed by Anurag Sarda has won first place out of entries submitted by top design schools across the world for the "Time to Care Sustainable Design Award".

The competition was organised by Victorinox Swiss Army, a Swiss company popular for their Army knives.

"For me availability of water is a key problem. I wanted to create a sustainable design and chose to do the 'Leaf' after I saw dewdrops on the seat of my bike and thought about converting into a product, " says Sarda.

Similar to a natural leaf, water is artificially generated through condensation. The water gets purified through an attached sand-filtration and later collected into an earthen pot.Sarda's project is currently in the conceptual stage and according to him can be be practically implemented in humid regions in Asia, North America, South America, Africa and Australia.

"I am working on a prototype model in the next two years with sponsorship by 
Victorinox," says Sarda , a student of MIT Institute of Design (MITID) who is currently pursuing an internship in Germany.

Sarda's project pipped the waterless toilet and Safety net which bagged second and third places respectively.