Professor Asit K. Biswas, a tireless water proponent who constantly challenges the "status quo", has received the 2006 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate from the hands of H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden.

Professor Biswas is an Indian-born Canadian citizen and president of the Mexico City-based Third World Centre for Water Management.

The Nominating Committee said Professor Biswas was awarded for his outstanding and multi-faceted contributions to global water resource issues, including research, education and awareness, water management, human and international relations in both developed and developing countries. While many highly-qualified experts in aquatic disciplines distinguish themselves as academicians, others as practitioners, others as government advisors, and others as writers and lecturers, Professor Biswas with his wide knowledge is highly recognized in all of these areas and, most importantly, has over a broad front applied his skills internationally, thereby adding new dimensions to the wise use and management of the global water resources.

The Stockholm Water Prize is a global award founded in 1990 and presented annually to an individual, organization or institution for outstanding water-related activities. The activities can be within fields like education and awareness-raising, human and international relations, research, water management and water-related aid. The Stockholm Water Prize Laureate receives USD 150,000 along with a glass sculpture. HM King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is the Patron of the Stockholm Water Prize.

A Strong Supporter of International Collaboration

Professor Biswas fostered a new "socio-economic and political climate" which enabled the effective translation of scientific (both natural and social) and technical advances into meaningful measures. As the main scientific advisor to the Secretary-General of the United Nations Water Conference in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1977, Professor Biswas helped to formulate and promote the International Water Supply and Sanitation Decade. After approval of this initiative by the UN General Assembly, Professor Biswas advised international and national institutions on how the Decade could be implemented.

Professor Biswas, together with the former UN Undersecretary-General, Dr. Peter Hansen, reviewed the work of all the UN agencies for the Mar del Plata Conference and advised on how the impact of their water-related activities could be maximized. The resulting so-called "Biswas-Hansen" recommendations influenced the way the UN system has worked with water thereafter.

Professor Biswas chaired the Middle East Water Commission from 1993 to 1997, with the support of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. The actual treaties on water issues between several countries were based on many of the recommendations of this Commission.

Concerned with the fact that potential water leaders of the next generation are not being heard at major international forums, he initiated a 3-year programme with the support of the Nippon Foundation, to select and mentor potential water leaders from all over the world who were below 40 years. The remarkable success of this programme is demonstrated by the fact that all the eight potential leaders he mentored now hold very senior positions.

A Man of Many Roles

Many of his additional activities have also resulted in outstanding contributions to solve international and regional water problems. In his multi-faceted roles as a scientist and educator, he has acted as an advisor and confidant to policymakers in water and environmental management in 17 countries, to six heads of the United Nations agencies and to other intergovernmental and international organizations. He founded the Third World Centre for Water Management and the International Journal of Water Resources Development and continued as Editor-in-Chief for the past 21 years. He has been involved in the writing of 64 books and 600 scientific and technical articles. His work has been translated into 31 languages.

Under his leadership, additional books on burning issues are presently in preparation, including Water Management in Mega-cities, Impacts of Large Dams and Poverty Alleviation and Water as a Human Right.

His first challenge was to get a job

Recalling his career route, Professor Biswas told me that when he graduated with an engineering degree in India in 1961, he couldn't find a job for six months. Then he went to Britain through a friend's help. With six dollars in his pocket, he found a job based in Liverpool three days after his arrival. His job was to design how to build a dam which was just what he learnt. But after a year of work at Brigadier, his boss said he had greater potential and vision, his future should be a university professor or other academic work which will contribute more to society. Being grateful for his boss all his life, Mr. Biswas went to a university in Glasgow of Britain and got his Ph.D there and taught for 6 years. Later during his visiting scholar period in Queen's University in Canada, he was sincerely invited by Canadian government to lead research work in water management. After ten years of all the administrative work, he resigned and went back to teaching. He taught 16 years in Oxford University.

Professor Biswas followed his heart and went to Mexico with his wife and founded the Third World Center for Water Management, which gives independent advice in water-related issues for developing countries as well as developed countries.

Talking about the challenge for him, he said, "the main challenge is that for many people, they always think there is a problem when in fact there is no problem. We are creating problem. For example here people worried that the world is running out of water and China is facing great water problem. But I don't think so. The world is not running out of water. The reason is that we didn't manage properly. And we know how to manage it, but we don't do it. And that's our problem." He continues to say, "We have to change the way we work. What bothers me is that we talk too much and do little and we say the same thing every year."

Young people nowadays have far better opportunities

Having a daughter of 21 years old, Professor Biswas said there is no question about the tremendous opportunities the young people have nowadays compared with the past. At the same time, the competition is also immense.

"She is facing a world that more people are equally competent and the competition is much higher. First, no one can accurately predict what the world will be like in 20 years, what I encourage my daughter to do is to give herself the best education and information as much as she can, work hard and keep up with the development in whatever field she decides to stand because the world is continuously changing so rapidly and if you can't keep up you will be a minor player in that. So in the future, the challenge the young people are facing will be how to be flexible. What they are learning now in five years might be irrelevant, the knowledge will be different and the problem will be different, so you have to be more flexible and knowledgeable and you have to integrate more and more issues together because things are becoming more and more related. So the young people have more opportunities than our time, but the competition is also more than our time. Risks and opportunities co-exist, whatever you do, you have to do it the best.

Water is not oil

"Indian government told me that there is a scarcity of water. I told them it's not true." Professor Biswas said if you treat water like oil and only use it, but not treat it, there will be scarcity. He gave Mexico as example too. Because people don't have safe tap water, people spend a fortune on bottled water. But the solution lies in reuse of water.

"If you build a water treatment system, you will be able to reuse water. At present, in most cities in developing countries, water never fully reach the city dwellers due to poor infrastructure and leakage. In Dehli, the average per capita water per day is over 100 litres per day. But that amount didn't arrive to people due to leakage."

Professor Biswas said due to free of charge, water in many countries are wasted. The running tap is frequently seen in many areas where water is free. The water supply system is deteriorating but no incentive to repair it due to free of charge.

So Professor Biswas thinks water should be charged at a price that matches its cost for supplying it. It's not the job of the water sector to subsidize the poor. The job of water suppliers no matter public or private is to provide good quality of waste water supply system at the lowest price. If the poor cannot pay, the Singapore experience is that the civil affairs department or social affair department will subsidize the poor.

"But people don't get free water. But no one complaint about water price. While in Mexico, I don't know what is my water bill. But I spent a fortune to buy bottled water because I cannot drink tap water. So if the Mexican government provides me clean tap water for drinking and cooking, my expense will substantially reduce. But the current situation, it is the poor people who spend too much money for drinking water."

As for the case in China, Professor Biswas quoted late leader Deng Xiaoping's famous words, "No matter the cat is white or black, as long as it catches the mice, it will be a good cat. Similarly, no matter it is business sector or government sector, as long as they can provide good quality water to people, go for it. You have to provide good quality water, and if the water quality is good, people are willing to pay for it."

Only two or three countries such as Singapore and Thailand make a good recycling and reusing waste water system. Many people just collect waste water but then dump it into river or sea and create pollution. "So you say we don't have enough water. We create problems ourselves. We need to ask ourselves, did we really make it right?"

There must be strong regulation on it. Don't expect the water sector itself will solve the problem. It needs all the sectors including that of land, traffic, agriculture, environment and energy.

All the prize money will go to core activity in 'thinking'

In terms of how to use the prize money and many other prizes, Professor Biswas said all the money will go to co-financing to support core activity in thinking.

"In our organization, we don't lack project funding, but we don't have anyone who likes to support literature or thinking. Suppose to get some water literature, we need a year to read 16 books for example and do some thinking. But no one likes to support that. So these money will go to that type of long-term thinking or core funding."

People's Daily Online Stockholm Correspondent Chen Xuefei reports.