Kaitlyn Tran, a 17-year-old student from Texas, wins $10,000 for turning industrial drums into barrels: they have already retained 170,000 liters of rainwater

An apparently simple idea can become a tool to combat one of the most important environmental problems: water pollution. Kaitlyn Tran, a 17-year-old from Cedar Park, Texas, has developed a project that gives discarded industrial drums a second life by collecting rainwater and preventing it from carrying polluting substances into nearby ecosystems.

His initiative, called Rain Barrels for Runoff, has managed to retain approximately 170,000 liters of runoff water. The project uses containers from the food industry to store the water that falls on rooftops and allow its reuse in tasks such as watering gardens. In this way, it seeks to reduce both the amount of water that ends up in drainage systems and the need to use drinking water for certain household purposes.

Recycled drums to curb water pollution

The problem the young woman is trying to solve is surface runoff. When it rains on roads, parking lots, and other impermeable surfaces, the water cannot easily soak into the ground and flows toward drains. During that journey, it carries oils, fertilizers, pesticides, and other waste that can end up polluting rivers, lakes, and aquifers.

To address this situation, Tran decided to recover industrial drums and turn them into water collection tanks. In addition, she involved more than 40 young artists, who decorated the containers by hand to make them more attractive. Later, the drums were sold and auctioned, which made it possible to raise more than $2,500 to fund local environmental programs.

The impact of the initiative has earned her one of the 2026 Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, which recognizes projects led by people under 18. The award includes $10,000 to support her education or continue developing initiatives with social impact.

The young woman has also investigated how certain urban development projects can increase the pollution that reaches the Edwards Aquifer, an important groundwater reserve in Texas. Her work, carried out over eight months using mapping tools and groundwater models, has helped drive environmental protection measures.