A number of innovations were highlighted at the Stockholm World Water Week event, some of them the result of corporate prizes. But I’ll talk about the prize closest to my heart - the Stockholm Junior Water Prize (full disclosure: the global sponsor is ITT).
Eighteen-year-old Ceren Burçak Dag,
of Nisantasi, Turkey, won the prize for one of the coolest projects I’ve seen (of course, I say that every year): Dag’s research may show us a way to harness rainwater to produce electricity. Seeing Dag on stage, along with the 50 other young nominees from 29 countries, was both moving and inspiring.Some of the other projects were as follows: Eileen Jang, of North Carolina and the U.S. winner, figured out how mercury builds in our water,
which promises to help us better understand how it enters the human body. Mzwakhe Sifundo Xulu and Njabubulo Sihle Mbata, of South Africa, developed an inexpensive Auto Mechanical Tap that captures water from community faucets that would normally be wasted due to spillage. This promises to be a valuable tool for rural, arid communities, including their native South Africa.One of the memories I will take away from this year’s Junior Prize is standing in front of one young nominee’s project and telling him it was very good. “Do you mean brilliant?” he said. I could only smile in response, so let me answer him now - yes, I meant brilliant.
Moments like these with aspiring young researchers remind me of why it’s so important to encourage innovation and creativity in water science. Brilliance is what we need to address today’s water quality challenges, and we saw it in Stockholm last week.
