16-year-old South African invents wonder material to fight drought

By Kieron Monks, for CNN

Updated 0213 GMT (1013 HKT) August 15, 2016

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South African Kiara Nirghin, 16, won Google's Community Impact Award for creating a super absorbent polymer that could be used to combat the nation's crippling drought crisis.

Photos: Creative solution

Precocious talent – South African Kiara Nirghin, 16, won Google's Community Impact Award for creating a super absorbent polymer that could be used to combat the nation's crippling drought crisis.

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The polymer uses orange peel and avocado skins, which combine to form a material that can store hundreds of times its weight in water, creating reservoirs that would allow farmers to maintain their crops through droughts.

Photos: Creative solution

Sustainable solution – The polymer uses orange peel and avocado skins, which combine to form a material that can store hundreds of times its weight in water, creating reservoirs that would allow farmers to maintain their crops through droughts.

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South Africa is experiencing the worst droughts on record, with thousands of communities and millions of people experiencing water shortages.

Photos: Creative solution

Urgent crisis – South Africa is experiencing the worst droughts on record, with thousands of communities and millions of people experiencing water shortages.

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Story highlights

Google prize winner, 16, uses fruit to tackle drought
Mixed skins form super absorbent polymer

(CNN)South Africa's worst drought in recorded history has left eight of the country's nine provinces in a state of disaster, with thousands of communities and millions of households facing water shortages.

The agricultural union Agri SA has requested over $1 billion in government subsidies to help farmers through the crisis, but a cut-price solution could soon be available -- from an unlikely source.

Johannesburg schoolgirl Kiara Nirghin, 16, recently won the Google Science Fair's Community Impact Award for the Middle East and Africa with her submission "No More Thirsty Crops."

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Using orange peel and avocado skins, the precocious student created a super absorbent polymer (SAP) capable of storing reserves of water hundreds of times its own weight, forming reservoirs that would allow farmers to maintain their crops at minimal cost. The polymer has the added benefit of sustainability as it uses recycled and biodegradable waste products.

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"Kiara found an ideal material that won't hurt the budget in simple orange peel, and through her research, she created a way to turn it into soil-ready water storage with help from the avocado," said Andrea Cohan, program leader of the Google Science Fair.