According to reports, a team from Montana has won $1.5 million after creating a victory in the Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE, a two-year-long competition to come up with a precise and affordable way to test the acidity of ocean waters.

A team of chemists and engineers from Montana, Sunburst Sensors won both Grand Prizes: a $750,000 Affordability Grand Prize on the basis of cost and usability and a $750,000 Accuracy Grand Prize on the basis of performance.

ANB Sensors won second-place awards for affordability and Team DuraFET won it for accuracy. Each team won an amount of $250,000.

After the company's device collects samples of seawater, the sample is mixed with a special dye that changes color at different levels of pH. After that it shines a laser through the water onto a sensor in order to take a reading. Cost of Sunburst's unit could be as little as $1,000 per device.

Sunburst Sensors is a small business based in Missoula, Montana and concentrates on the development of chemical sensors for aquatic and freshwater applications. James Beck is the company's CEO.

According to Wendy Schmidt, whose foundation funded the competition, "The ocean is in the midst of a silent crisis as a result of increasing levels of CO2, with a direct impact on our climate, marine creatures, and on communities that rely on shellfish, fisheries and coral reefs".

Schmidt said he is happy as the innovations that have been made in this competition will help scientists and also tell about connection of human life to the health of the ocean.