Engineering to the rescue: Fighting kidney disease in rural Sri Lanka

Backed by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an interdisciplinary, student-led team from New Jersey Institute of Technology is building a low-cost water filter for villagers in the north central farming region of Sri Lanka who are suffering from high rates of chronic kidney disease. The heavy metal-laden fertilizer they apply to their fields is considered a likely cause, and their drinking water a possible vehicle for the contamination.