She came up with an invention to save 12 million people. Genius? Kinda.

It's so simple, you'd think more people would be using this.

This is the city of São Paulo, Brazil you see in tourist pamphlets.

This is the São Paulo those pamphlets won't show you.

That is what Brazilians call a favela , defined as "a slum or shantytown located within or on the outskirts of [Brazil's] largest cities."

Many of the people who live in São Paulo's favelas are impoverished and don't have access to basic needs — like water.

In fact, 12 million people in São Paulo are running out of water.

That's...

1. More than the number of people in New York City.


2. About the same number people that live in Illinois, Pennsylvania, or Ohio.


3. More than the number of people in Greece.

Exact numbers aside, that's a lot of people who don't have proper drinking water or water to flush their toilets or wash their clothes.

One woman is trying to help out with the water shortage.

Terezinha Silva is her name.

Her solution? It's really simple, but it's also simply brilliant. It involves rainwater.

See, there are only four steps.

"Water from the ceiling? But yuck!"

Keep reading.

"Mosquitoes were in the water? Yuck!"

Wait for it.

"Filtered water! But what if the barrel gets too full?"

We're not done yet.

And there you have it! A barrel with usable water that started out as water dripping from the ceiling with mosquitoes.

Watch to see this drought-opposing invention in all its glory.

Let's hope this small, simple solution can eventually stop this large-scale problem. If you want to spread the word about it, please share this post!

Video via AJ+. São Paulo image #1 via Flickr user Diego Torres Silvestre; São Paulo image #2 via Flickr user Francisco Antunes. Both used under Creative Commons licenses.

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