China wins the Stockholm Junior Water Prize

Wang Hao, Weng Fan and Xiaoyi standing in front of their exhibition booth with their water pollution treatment solutions after the prize winning ceremony.

Wang Hao, Weng Jie and Xiao Yi from China were awarded the prestigious 2006 Stockholm Junior Water Prize Tuesday night in a formal ceremony in the Stockholm City Conference Centre during the World Water Week in Stockholm.

The students from Shanghai Nanyang Model High School received the Prize from the hands of H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria on behalf of the Stockholm Water Foundation. They also received a USD 5,000 scholarship and a crystal sculpture.

The Stockholm Junior Water Prize is presented each year to a high-school age students for an outstanding water-related project focusing on topics of environmental, scientific, social or technological importance. The international honour is given to an individual or group who, like their 26 co-competitors, has been awarded the top prize among national competitions. The National Country winners travel to Stockholm from as far a field as Israel, Australia and Vietnam.

The official motivation of the Nominating Committee is: "The Chinese team, from Shanghai Nanyang Model High School, displayed originality, ingenuity and tenacity in its use of low-cost, ecologically friendly technology to restore a polluted urban river channel.

To do so, the team took several steps. First, they dammed small sections of the highly polluted Caoxi river channel and removed the contaminated mud which was exposed. Second, oxygen-starved stretches of the river were revitalized through the use of floating aerators. Third, bushes and other bank-side plants were carefully fertilized with organic waste, irrigated, and used as biological barriers to block polluted runoff from the land. Finally, through a water quality monitoring program, illicit sewage discharges were discovered, exposed, and eliminated.

This tried-and-true method for river channel restoration gives great hope for similar successes with other streams in the 19-million person Shanghai metropolitan area."

Also, Diplomas of Excellence were given to Japan and Sri Lanka. Satomi Kosho, Naomi Sugimoto and Sae Nishino from Japan were cited as follows: "The Japanese team, by developing a portable nursery which adapted the principles of the well-known Wardian Case for transporting plants, created an innovative approach which both reduced the amount of water needed to grow rice seedlings and improved their quality". The Sri Lankans Mihirani Kethumalika, Uthpala Rathnayake and Chathurika Rathnayake were cited as follows: "The Sri Lankan team challenged the wasteful water practices often found in paddy rice cultivation. Their research showed that by applying paddy straw mulch, water consumption in rice cultivation is reduced, while at the same time much-needed organic matter to the soil is added. Further, this beneficial practice is relevant not only for Sri Lanka, but for all rice-producing countries."

The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) administers the competition on behalf of the Stockholm Water Foundation. The international competition is sponsored globally by ITT Corporation.

By People's Daily Online