Moments of inspiration can come at any time, but a teenager in Australia has invented a new water-saving device that the r/showerthoughts community on Reddit would be proud.

Rani East-Jeffs had her epiphany while watching water run down the drain while waiting for her shower to heat up. The 14-year-old, who was given a task by her school to minimize water waste, used the opportunity to develop a device she calls the Aqua Loop.

Their invention uses circuit boards, pipes, a button and some solenoid valves to monitor the water temperature and release the water once it reaches the desired level.

Although she had always been interested in water conservation while living in a rural village in New South Wales, this project made Rani realize that she was wasting 5 litres every time she waited for her shower to heat up.

“(It’s) a device that goes into your roof and stops water from being wasted, so it doesn’t even come out of the shower head and it goes back into the hot water system or wherever your hot water system comes from,” Rani told Australian Broadcasting Corporation Mid North Coast.

According to their calculations, Aqua Loop could save an average four-person household an average of 2,628 litres of water per year. The associated benefits would save homeowners money and help conserve the world’s most precious resource – a resource threatened by rising global temperatures.

Her teacher at Port Macquarie’s Nature School, Lloyd Godson, praised the simplicity and accessibility of the design. “The students weren’t really expected to produce a working prototype. But Rani has outdone herself,” he added, according to ABC. Similar models exist in other countries, but none are available in Australia.

Aqua Loop has also taken her to new heights. With Godson’s encouragement, Rani presented it at a conference for young inventors at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

There, she caught the attention of Eman Soliman, founder and CEO of EduTech Australia, which creates science and technology curricula for students on topics such as coding, robotics and invention.

Soliman sponsored Rani to compete against 200 other participants in the organization’s STEAMS-Preneurs educational program and competition. The program teaches young girls presentation and entrepreneurship skills and empowers them to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, arts and math.

Rani took home the STEAMS-preneurs NSW State Champion Award for Aqua Loop and will continue to work with mentors from EduTech Australia to commercialize her product.

“I thought the actual invention would have a huge impact on water conservation worldwide, especially in remote and regional (areas) affected by drought,” Soliman said.

“Every time I tell someone, they say, ‘I want it first, I want it first,'” Rani said of Aqua Loop. “I think there are 30 people I give it to first.”

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