CIWEM's Youth Water Prize Winner

2nd September 2010 

Nottingham High School student Simon Crowther is travelling to Stockholm to present “Dry Flood; Protecting Your Property”, the winning project of Tomorrow’s Water: CIWEM’s Youth Water Prize, to the jury of an international junior water prize at the World Water Week in Stockholm.

Tomorrow’s Water: CIWEM’s Youth Water Prize is the UK branch of the Stockholm Junior Water Prize. The competition is open to young people between 15 and 20 years of age, who have conducted water-related projects focusing on local, regional, national or global topics of environmental, scientific, social or technological importance. Over 30 countries host a national competition, with the winners of each going on to compete at the overall international Stockholm Junior Water Prize, held during the World Water Week in Stockholm on 5th to 11th September 2010. Each finalist is interviewed by a jury of international water experts, with H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden formally presenting the prize to the winning team.

Discussing his project, and the inspiration behind it, Andrew said:

“My project was inspired by the flooding of my house in the summer of 2007, which led to my family living in rented accommodation for over one year. I wanted to engineer a solution to a problem faced by millions that would be easy to install and simple to use. The project was a simple automated electric flood barrier which would sense increasing water levels. This would then trigger the barrier to rise, holding back the flood waters.”

CIWEM Director of International Development, Paul Horton said:

“The international Stockholm Junior Water Prize brings together the world’s brightest young people to encourage their interest in water and the environment, and our entrants submit inspiring and innovative solutions to pressing environmental problems. Better environmental education is the key to a sustainable future and is a vital charitable aim of CIWEM, so we are very proud to congratulate Simon on an excellent project. As part of our environmental education initiative, we hope to encourage even more youngsters with environmental talents from around the UK to test their skills and initiatives in the competition in 2011.”