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The Kid Report: Waste Watchers

The story “Waste Watchers” is about robots being used to test wastewater for COVID-19. It appears in this week’s issue of TIME for Kids. Here, Allie Amison, 12, explains how her school created its own wastewater-testing robots.

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COURTESY HEATHER AMISON (2)

I go to Vista Grande Elementary. It’s in El Cajon, California. Our school took part in a program called Safer at School Early Alert, or SASEA. It’s run by the University of California San Diego.

We used a robot to test wastewater for the virus that causes COVID-19. We named our robot Harry Botter. It was really cool to see it in action. It has tubes that go into sewer drains. The tubes bring up wastewater. That water goes to a laboratory for testing.

I’m so thankful for SASEA. I hope there are other programs like it. They could help kids around the world get back to school safely.

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