Stockholm, Sweden, May 23, 2013 -- The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) named Dr. Peter Morgan, renowned sanitation innovator, the 2013 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate, and Netafim, a company specializing in drip irrigation, the winner of the 2013 Stockholm Industry Water Award. Both prizes will be presented during the 2013 World Water Week in Stockholm this coming September.
Over the past four decades, Dr. Morgan has invented and advanced low-cost practical solutions to provide access to safe sanitation and clean water for millions of people worldwide. By combining a scientific mind with practical skills and a knack for elegant simplicity, Dr. Morgan's ideas and designs provide hope for the more than 780 million people without access to safe water and 2.5 billion people who lack access to adequate sanitation.
"Many currently existing solutions to provide clean water and sanitation are unaffordable, impractical and out of reach for the world's poorest people," said the Stockholm Water Prize Committee in its citation. "As a result of Dr. Morgan's pioneering work to develop practical water and sanitation technologies for those most in need, countless communities now enjoy safer water, a cleaner environment and higher quality of life."
H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, the Patron of the Stockholm Water Prize, will present the prize to Dr. Morgan at a Royal Award Ceremony on September 5.
Netafim, a leading provider of drip irrigation worldwide, was named winner of the 2013 Stockholm Industry Water Award. Currently, more than ten million hectares of farmland are irrigated with drip irrigation, a technology pioneered by Netafim that dramatically improves water, energy and labour productivity.
"Globally, 70 percent of our finite freshwater is used for irrigation and with rapidly expanding demand for agricultural products there is a dire need to improve water productivity. Netafim's achievements, helping farmers across the world to 'grow more with less,' are directly contributing to a more water and food secure world," said the Stockholm Industry Water Award Committee in its citation.
In addition to the Stockholm Water Prize and the Stockholm Industry Water Award, SIWI today awarded the Swedish prize "Årets Vattenskola" to Rosenholmsskolan at a public prize ceremony in Kungsträdgården in Stockholm. Årets Vattenskola serves to recognize andreward schools that show an extraordinary engagement in water and sustainability issues. Read the full press release (in Swedish) at: www.siwi.org/2013AVS.
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