Sweden’s Prince Carl Philip was on hand to give out the annual Stockholm Water Prize Thursday. Usually, Crown Princess Victoria hands out the award. But since she is on tour of Finland with her parents these days, it was the second child of King Carl XVI Gustaf to award this year’s recipient at Stockholm City Hall.
Reuters
The winner this year is India’s Bindeshway Pathak, the founder of the Sulabh sanitation movement. He had developed a simple toilet system for India and several other poor countries.
“Sanitation is humanity’s and the world’s most urgent and critical crisis of our times,” Pathak said in an interview prior to the ceremony. “However, it is not yet an unsolvable crisis but a huge challenge. It will require massive, dedicated and selfless labour to achieve the goal.”
Upon receiving the award, Pathak said he would use the $150,000 prize to fund the education of India’s Dalit minority. The Dalit children are the ones who empty the latrines around the country.
“Provision of sanitation provides dignity and safety, especially to women, and reduction of child mortality,”Pathak said in his acceptance speech.
The Stockholm Water Prize is considered to be akin to the Nobel Prize, in terms of environmental issues.
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