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RSSMexico Wins 2007 International Stockholm Junior Water Prize
August 15, 2007
Stockholm, Sweden — The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) has named Mexican students Adriana Alcantara Ruiz, Dalia Graciela Diaz Gomez and Carlos Hernandez Mejia winners of the prestigious 2007 International Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP).
The students, from the Cultural Institute of Paideia in Toluca, Mexico, received the Prize from H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria on behalf of the Stockholm Water Foundation during a formal ceremony in the Stockholm City Conference Centre/Folkets Hus during World Water Week in Stockholm. They also received a USD $5,000 scholarship and a crystal sculpture.
The Stockholm Junior Water Prize is presented each year to high-school age students for outstanding water-related projects that focus on topics of environmental, scientific, social or technological importance. The international honour is given to an individual or group who, like their 27 co-competitors, has been awarded the top prize among national competitions. The National Country winners travel to Stockholm from as far a field as Australia, Israel and Vietnam. The official motivation of the Nominating Committee for this year's winners is:
The Mexican team's project, "The Elimination of Pb(II) From Water Via BIO-Adsorption Using Eggshell", developed a novel approach to absorb lead in industrial wastewater by utilising eggshells, a locally abundant bio-organic waste material. By mixing ground-up eggshells in a liquid lead solution, the young Mexicans successfully removed more than 90% of lead pollutants from liquid waste. This low-cost, time-efficient method provides an alternative solution for removing heavy metals, a pollutant and health hazard around the world, from water. The quick and effective process can be applied in both small-scale industries large industrial operations.
For their project "The Biochemical Detoxification of Heavy Metals and its Application to the Water-Soil Environment in the Agricultural Wetlands of the Pearl River Delta, China", the Chinese team of Yang Guo, Junhong Wu and Sisi Yu received honourable mention.
The World Water Week continues at the Stockholm City Conference Centre until Saturday, August 18. For more information about the international competition, please visit www.siwi.org.
Jingyuan Luo of Chandler, Ariz. represented the United States in the competition. She was named the 2007 U.S. SJWP winner during the U.S. competition in May 2007 for her project, "Toxicity and Bioaccumulation of Nanomaterials in Aquatic Species". The U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize is organized by the Water Environment Federation and its Member Associations, with support from ITT Corporation, The Coca-Cola Company and Delta Air Lines.
