Saudis Arabia awards ‘Water Prize’ to 8 scientists

Saudi Arabia bestowed eight scientists with the prestigious Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water at a ceremony held at New York-based United Nations headquarters on Wednesday.

Dr. Shafiqul Islam of Tufts University and Dr. Rita Colwell of University of Maryland were awarded the “Creativity Prize” for their work to predict cholera outbreaks using satellite data. The Georgia Institute of Technology’s Dr. Peter J. Webster shared the same prize for his work on predicting floods during monsoons.

Dr. Gary Parker of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign bagged the “Surface Water Prize” for his work on meandering rivers.

The Colorado School of Mines’ Dr. Tissa H. Illangasekare received the “Ground Water Prize” for his work on predicting the fate of pollutants in the water table.

The “Alternative Water Resources Prize” went to Dr. Anthony Fang and Dr. Rong Wang of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. Dr. Daniel P. Loucks of Cornell University received the “Water Management & Protection Prize” for developing system tools to address practical water resources management.

Prince Khalid hailed the prize as a way to help the world overcome the water scarcity problem. However, he declined to link the water issue with his nation’s on-going military campaign in Yemen, where some believe that scarcity of water is fueling the conflict.

The Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water was established in 2002, with an aim to recognize and promote scientists whose work addresses the growing problem of water scarcity. Recipients receive cash awards ranging from half a million to one million Saudi riyals, or US$133,000 to US$266,000.