STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Aug. 16, 2000 -- A water and wastewater treatment provider for Northeastern England has received the first Stockholm Industry Water Award during the Stockholm Water Symposium. Representatives of Northumbrian Water Limited accepted the award from the Stockholm Water Foundation, Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and World Business Council for Sustainable Development during a ceremony as part of the symposium, which focuses attention on pressing water and water-related issues.
Nearly 900 experts from governments, academia, non-governmental organizations, the business and industrial communities, scientific and research institutions, international water organizations, and more gathered in the Stockholm City Conference Centre for this week-long event. 2000 World Water Week, also this week, was scheduled to coincide with the symposium. Events will run through Aug. 19. For more information, visit the SIWI web site at www.siwi.org.
The award recognizes innovative corporate development of water and wastewater process technologies as well as contributions to environmental improvement through improved performance in production processes.
The Founders Seminar, also on Wednesday, included presentations from ITT Industries (USA), SCA and Birka Energi (Sweden), and Uniler (Holland). Their focus was how industry can contribute to water security in the 21st century.
On Thursday, HM King Carl XVI Gustaf was expected to present the $150,000 Stockholm Water Prize to South African Kader Asmal on August 17 in the Stockholm City Hall. Professor Asmal, South Africa's Minister of Education, is receiving the prize in recognition of his unprecedented efforts in the development of vision, legislation and practice in the field of water management in South Africa.
Legislation introduced by Professor Asmal provided access to water for some four million South Africans at home and a further three million at schools, clinics and workplaces.
Workshops scheduled to run throughout the week cover a range of water-related topics from extending water use through restructuring the industry for a better impact.
Minimizing pollution and making the most of the water
The challenge set before the world's leaders is to balance a given amount of water with an increasing need and demand for food, industrial goods and other amenities, according to a seminar given Wednesday at the Stockholm Water Symposium. The seminar, "Steps Towards Increased Effectivness in Water Use - Possibilities and Replicability," explored ways to achieve the multiple objective of reducing consumption and pollution while promoting good development.
As an inevitable part of societal development, water and other resources are regulated, extracted from their natural system context and made accessible for various purposes and functions in society. Gradually, water and other resources are returned to the landscape and atmosphere, but with other quantity and quality characteristics. The challenge is to balance a certain amount of water - erratically available over seasons and inter annually, and circulating through the landscape - with a continuously increasing need and demand for food, industrial goods and other amenities.
The only conceivable strategy to achieve water security is to produce more of the desired goods and services per unit of water. Minimizing the pollution and other undesirable side effects from production and municipal activities is an equally crucial task.
A number of concepts and approaches are being proposed to achieve the multiple objective of reducing material consumption and anthropogenic emissions with their harmful effects on the life-support systems, while, at the same time, promoting a desirable development. A systems perspective is important, according to the session.
Breaking link between economic growth, environmental damage
In a session which ran Tuesday and Wednesday at the symposium, "Balancing Water and Social Challenges through Restructuring of Industry," attendees learned about ways to stop the rampant pollution growth that often accompanies economic growth. According to the session, history teaches us that often pollution growth outpaced economic growth.
Increases in wage earnings, exports, GNP, etc. are quite high in many countries in Eastern Europe and elsewhere but environmental cost and the build-up of an accumulating environmental debt might be equally or more rapid.
One explanation to this unfortunate twist is to be sought of in terms of 'outdated' technologies. Another important factor is related to organization of production, institutional context and improper utilization of water, raw materials and chemicals in production.
The workshop aimed at the combination of technological solutions for curtailing pollution and the social context within which they are used.
Making the most of rainwater for crop production
Another Wednesday session, "Innovative Processes in Small-scale Agricultural Production Using Water More Effectively," discussed how farmers who depend upon rainfall can make the best of that water to keep their crops growing well.
Availability of water is a limiting factor in rain-fed agricultural production and crop yields closely linked to the degree of root zone water security. Expanding water scarcity makes it a challenge to develop innovative crop production methods using less water per production unit or/and to develop methods of using non-conventional sources of water for supplementary irrigation.
The session explored interesting technologies like innovative crops, soil processing, pond systems, aquaculture and small-scale technologies for production of food on limited areas such as urban agriculture, multi-level small-scale food production chains, integrated biosystems, horticulture, closed cycles technology, etc.
Human rights approach to water
The human rights approach to water seeks to respect and build on human life, dignity and welfare, as explained in a Tuesday/Wednesday session, "Responsibilities Linked to 'Human Rights Approach' to Water - Rules and Roles."
Ensuring access to an amount of water that will satisfy a person's basic needs is an important component in water security, according to the session. The session speakers recommended that leaders must promote policies which would allow access to enough safe water for all.
As part of this session, speakers explored the steps and procedures that should be reconsidered, from general declarations at an international level through the implementation of relevant policies.
Female participation in water resources small, but growing
Tuesday, a workshop on feminization and water security focused on how female perspectives in water resources management can be facilitated. Speakers in the workshop, "Feminization and Water Security," said gender statistics reveal that there are large gender gaps in power sharing and income and for this to change there is a need for a new paradigm where women are enabled and empowered to play a more active role in water resource management.
Men tend to initially undermine this process however with lip service being paid to the whole notion of feminization, said A.R. Turton from African Water Issues Research Unit. It is only through the sustained activism of women that they finally take their rightful roles as custodians and managers of water service provision.
That role includes greater participation at international levels for arenas such as the symposium, which once again includes a larger percentage of women participants than normally found, according to the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).
But as pointed out in the seminar on Water for African Cities, inroads are already being made, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where feminization plays an important role in water management. The UN Habitat program presented its efforts at water education in seven African cities - education designed to teach and empower equal numbers of young women and men, the future water stewards on the continent. Professor Kader Asmal, Minister of Education in South Africa and this year's Stockholm Water Prize winner, said "investment in education is an investment in the future."
Using education to benefit business and humanity
Education must meet specific needs from professions but also more general needs in a world where the complexity of water management is increasing, according to the session which ran Tuesday and Wednesday, " Making Water Everybody's Business - the Educational Challenge."
Water awareness and communication will be crucial for developing water security, according to speakers in the session. Multi-scientific communication is a very complicated and exciting process, whether to help in collaboration between scientists or professional groups, between professionals and laymen, or just to help in learning.
Education to further the goal of water security is a challenge because it is fundamentally important in many areas in water resources management. New ways of thinking may open up more efficient ways of dealing with problems in interactions between nature, technology and human beings.
Wastewater reuse on a small scale
In a session presented Tuesday, "Towards a Recycling Society: Systems Approach to Small-Scale Reuse of Human Waste," speakers discussed the new ways small systems can deal with wastewater treatment with a goal of reuse.
The session focused on systems approaches attractive to municipal authorities particularly in cities with undeveloped sewage coverage. It also discussed the technologies used in converting waste to resource, educational support needed and aspects of human acceptance with such reuse, and the legal framework needed.
Small scale technologies for drinking water
"Simple, Small-scale and Appropriate Technology for Potable Water," a session which ran Tuesday, clarified a range of simple and appropriate technologies for small-scale treatment and disinfection methods for treating polluted water to potable standards. These methods can be implemented at the household level, according to the speakers.
The spreading of waterborne diseases with drinking water of poor quality is a massive problem in today's world, particularly in densely populated regions with limited access to water and sanitation. It is well known that a large number of children die every year in diseases caused by waterborne infections. Besides solving the sanitation problem, it is of major importance for household water security to find innovative, cheap, simple treatment methods for the daily drinking water.
