2012 Reed Elsevier Environmental Challenge Winners Announced

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2012 Reed Elsevier Environmental Challenge Winners Announced PR Newswire STOCKHOLM, August 27, 2012 STOCKHOLM, August 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- First and Second Prize Winners Awarded for Safe Water and Sanitation Solutions in the Developing World Reed Elsevier, a world leading provider of professional information solutions, today announced the winners of the Reed Elsevier Environmental Challenge which awards innovative solutions to improve sustainable access to safe water and sanitation. The $50,000 first and $25,000 second prize winners were awarded during the annual World Water Week in Stockholm which convenes water researchers, policymakers, journalists, companies and nonprofits addressing the key stwater challenges of the 21 century. The winner of the $50,000 first prize is the "Iron-amended Biosand Water Filter in Nepal" developed by Tommy Ngai, Director, Research Learning at the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST). Ngai's project modifies conventional Biosand Filters with iron particles to remove all three classes of water contaminants, including viruses, and bring safe drinking water to two impoverished rural villages in Nepal. Over a period of two years 150 filters will be installed, and CAWST will update its educational material and hold workshops to promote the technology. The project will target over 1,000 people in the two villages and has the potential to be scaled to help millions over the next 10 years.

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• Publié par: Elsevier
• Nombre de lectures: 26
• Langue: English

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2012 Reed Elsevier Environmental Challenge
Winners Announced
SPTR ONCeKwHsOwiLrMe, August 27, 2012

STOCKHOLM
,
August 27, 2012
/PRNewswire/ --
First and Second Prize Winners Awarded for Safe Water and Sanitation
Solutions in the Developing World
Reed Elsevier, a world leading provider of professional information solutions,
today announced the winners of the Reed Elsevier Environmental Challenge
which awards innovative solutions to improve sustainable access to safe water
and sanitation. The
$50,000
first and
$25,000
second prize winners were
awarded during the annual World Water Week in
Stockholm
which convenes
water researchers, policymakers, journalists, companies and nonprofits
addressing the key water challenges of the 21
st
century.
The winner of the
$50,000
first prize is the "Iron-amended Biosand Water Filter
in
Nepal
" developed by Tommy Ngai, Director, Research Learning at the Centre
for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST). Ngai's project
modifies conventional Biosand Filters with iron particles to remove all three
classes of water contaminants, including viruses, and bring safe drinking water
to two impoverished rural villages in
Nepal
. Over a period of two years 150
filters will be installed, and CAWST will update its educational material and hold
workshops to promote the technology. The project will target over 1,000 people
in the two villages and has the potential to be scaled to help millions over the
next 10 years.
Tommy Ngai, Director of Research Learning, CAWST, said: "CAWST is very
pleased that Reed Elsevier recognizes the treatment of water in the home as
one of the proven options to provide safe drinking water for
Nepal
, especially in
rural villages. The Biosand filter has great potential to become widely and
sustainably used for improving water quality to reduce waterborne disease and
death."
The
$25,000
second prize was awarded to "Sustainable Sanitation in Urban
Slums of
Africa
" developed by Lindsay Stradley of Sanergy. The project will
expand a pilot project in
Nairobi
to ensure that hygienic sanitation becomes
accessible and affordable through a network of small-scale, high-quality
sanitation centres close to homes. In
Kenya
8.5m people live in slums with 80
per cent of the communities lacking access to adequate sanitation. Sanergy
toilets are franchised to local entrepreneurs and stimulate the local economy
by turning waste into products-organic fertilizer sold to farms, and electricity
sold to the national grid. The prize money will be used to expand the current
pilot project in
Nairobi
.
"We are thrilled to be recognized by the Reed Elsevier Environmental
Challenge. The Reed Elsevier brand and expertise in science and technology
lends credibility to our work in building out sustainable sanitation in urban
slums," said Lindsay Stradley, Sanergy.
Chosen from a shortlist of five candidates and 140 original applicants, the
winning projects were considered replicable, scalable, sustainable and

innovative; emphasizing solutions with practical applicability. The Challenge's
distinguished panel of judges consisted of Dr. Sarah Bell, Senior Lecturer in
Environmental Engineering, University College London; Professor Mark van
Loosdrecht, Department of Biochemical Engineering, Delft University of
Technology; Dr. Prasad Modak, Executive President, of
India's
Environmental
Management Centre; and Professor Gang Pan, Research Center for Eco-
environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Both projects will be
featured in the Elsevier
Journal of Water Research
.
Youngsuk ("YS") Chi, Director, Corporate Affairs, Reed Elsevier, remarked: "The
two winning projects embody the innovative but practical and scalable solutions
prioritized by the Reed Elsevier Environmental Challenge. Our Challenge is a
tangible demonstration that the dissemination of research, knowledge and
ideas can be a powerful force for improving health and quality of life."
According to the World Health Organisation, lack of water to meet daily needs
is a reality for one in three people around the world. Poor access to safe water
contributes to health crises in many developing countries, and increasingly
leads to violent conflict. The Reed Elsevier Environmental Challenge contributes
to the Water for Life Decade, established by the UN General Assembly, running
between 2005 and 2015, in support of the Millennium Development Goal to
reduce by half the number of people without access to safe drinking water and
to stop unsustainable exploitation of water resources.
# # #

Notes for editors

The Reed Elsevier Environmental Challenge winners will be available for
interviews during the week of 27 August at World Water Week. Please contact
Ylann Schemm for further information: [e-mail]
To find out more about the Challenge, visit the Environmental Challenge
website or email [e-mail]
Reed Elsevier Environmental Challenge first place winner - Tommy
Ngai,

Director,

Research Learning for the Centre for Affordable Water
and Sanitation Technology (CAWST)
Iron-amended Biosand Water Filter for Millions of People in Nepal and Around
the World
The project modifies a traditional Biosand Filter, which effectively strains large
pathogens, by adding iron particles in order to remove viruses that previously
remained in the filtered water. Rural villages in
Nepal
are greatly affected by
water-borne diseases; this inexpensive project using local materials aims to
help by installing 150 amended filters in two such villages that currently get
their water from open springs. The project will especially target 1,000 of the
most vulnerable people in the communities and provide health, environment,
gender, and hygiene education workshops for the local community.
CAWST, based in
Calgary, Canada
, will be partnering with the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), who developed the technology, and with
Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO), a well-established and
respected local NGO to disseminate the iron-amended Biosand Filters. The
hope is that within 10 years, the technology can be adopted by and help
millions of people worldwide. CAWST will facilitate this by disseminating
anything learned from the project through its global network.
http://www.cawst.org/

Reed Elsevier Environmental Challenge second place winner - Lindsay
Stradley,

Sanergy
Sustainable Sanitation in Urban Slums of Africa
The project focuses on sustainable sanitation in the slums of
Kenya
, where 80
per cent of the population lacks access to adequate sanitation. Sanergy
develops a dense network of small-scale but high-quality sanitation centres in
slums. Each toilet is run by a local entrepreneur, with a training and support
system in place. Waste cartridges are collected daily by Sanergy staff, and the
waste is then converted into organic fertilizer and electricity. The prize money
will be used to expand the pilot project, hopefully to 250 toilets in
Nairobi
by the
end of 2012, and demonstrate the viability of the model across the entire value
chain.
The project takes a systems-based approach with the issue, building out the
entire sanitation value chain. It not only addresses the environmental and
health impacts of poor sanitation, but seeks to boost the local economy as well.
It also involves a range of stakeholders, including local residents,
manufacturers, NGOs and the city council. Sanergy itself is well embedded in
the local environment - 80 per cent of the team is Kenyan. http://saner.gy/

About Reed Elsevier

Reed Elsevier Group plc is a world leading provider of professional information
solutions to the science, medical, legal, risk management, and business to
business sectors. The group employs more than 30,000 people, including
16,000 in
North America
. Reed Elsevier Group plc is owned equally by two
parent companies, Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV; the combined
market capitalisation of the two parent companies at the end of
June 2012
was
£11bn/€14bn. Their shares are traded on the
London
,
Amsterdam
and New
York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols:
London
: REL;
Amsterdam
: REN;
New York
: RUK and ENL.
Media contact
Ylann Schemm
[phone]
[e-mail]