Two Ourense students take part in the international Stockholm Junior Water Prize, a veritable ‘Nobel Prize for Water’ for young people, in Sweden
The SJWP is an international competition that rewards young people’s research into water and sustainability, promoted in Spain by Viaqua, the Aquae Foundation and the Water School.
Yesterday, two students in the first year of the baccalaureate at the Santa María de Ourense Marist School, Miguel Aragón Fernández and Miguel Sequeiros Doval, took part in the 22nd Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP), considered the ‘Nobel Prize for Water’ for young people.
The research by these two young Galicians, who in May won the Spanish national award in the competition, focuses on an innovative ecological system for breaking down wet wipes, based on the capacity of the honey worm (Galleria mellonella) to decompose polyethylene-derived compounds. The students based their research on studies by the universities from Cantabria and Cambridge showing that the worm can break down polyethylene naturally by ingesting it. The youths went a step further, showing that the worm is also capable of breaking down polyethylene-derived compounds in wet wipes without generating pollutants or affecting the life cycle of the worm.
Wet wipes are not biodegradable (their percentage disintegration in water is less than 40% in two days, compared to 95% in half an hour for toilet paper, which is mostly cellulose). Such slow decomposition costs millions of euros (over 1 billion euros a year in the European Union) due to blockages to pipes, leaving wastewater treatment plants temporarily out of action and creating a serious health problem in many cities.
A jury of international experts will interview the Spanish team, who will travel to the Swedish capital with their tutor, Lydia Castro, and the other 34 winning teams from the national events in their respective countries. The winning team will receive 15,000 dollars, a diploma and a blue crystal sculpture from Princess Victoria of Sweden, the patron of the competition. The awards ceremony will take place during World Water Week (26-31 August).
Last year, the American students Ryan Thorpe and Rachel Chang won the competition with a system that detects and purifies water polluted with Shigella, Salmonella and cholera much faster and more effectively than any other conventional system. It is a discovery that could prevent outbreaks of water-transmitted disease and expand the consumption of drinking water worldwide.
The international SJWP is organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), whose aim is to foster interest among young people and promote their creativity with regard to water and the environment. The Spanish competition is sponsored by Viaqua and the Aquae Foundation and organised by the Water School, an institution created by SUEZ to share and transfer knowledge on water and sustainability, running training projects in 17 countries. Once again, the Galician water provider, Viaqua, has showed its support for training and research among young people in the field of water and the environment, promoting initiatives such as this.
The aim of the SJWP, which each year receives over 10,000 projects from around the world, is to reward big ideas from young people aged 15 to 20 that help improve people’s quality of life by improving the quality, management, protection and treatment of drinking and wastewater. The award was created in 1997.
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