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On Friday, Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander attended the Global Water Partnership in Stockholm. The meeting was marking 15 years since GWP originally met in 1996. Willem Alexander has been advocate for clean water and proper sanitation for a long while, and has been a patron of GWP since 1998.
 Click here for Daylife.com gallery At this year’s event, he gave a speech concerning water and sanitation.
“Today you truly have a global reach, and are active in every corner of the world. Your partners work for government, businesses and NGOs. Members of the GWP family come from different sectors and traditions but they are united by this concern – how can we develop, manage and share our increasingly scarce supplies of water,” the Crown Prince said.
“Our central message focuses on basic sanitation. Despite impressive development gains since 2000, we are simply not making enough progress – 2.6 billion continue to lack adequate sanitation but also the knowledge to understand the importance of sanitation to their potential development and dignity.
“We are not keeping pace with demographic growth, which means that according to current trends, by 2015, more people, not fewer, will lack safe sanitation facilities. Daunting statistics, and behind them, immeasurable human suffering, a disheartening case of global inequity, lost opportunities for economic growth, and growing environmental degradation.
Willem Alexander went on to talk about the importance for clean water and the need to provide it.
“There is no wastewater, only water that is wasted! This is a concept we all need to promote. To achieve water security we must share the common view that wastewater is a resource. It is a resource that deserves more attention from politicians, decision-makers, and policy planners.
“Let’s all join in a concerted effort to ensure polluted water is treated before it’s returned to the environment. But we need a 21st century model. Business as usual is not the answer. Over-engineered massive trunk and branch systems which are prohibitively expensive, difficult to maintain and prone to break-downs are not the answer. Given the mind-boggling price tags for many of these systems, it is not surprising that often the work never even gets started.
“21st century systems should employ cascading use,” Willem Alexander said. “Cleaning water for drinking and personal hygiene, cascading down to grey water which can be ‘cleaned enough’ for industrial use, environmental recharge or agricultural. Do you know that about 50 million hectares of agriculture currently depends on wastewater? We have to expand this practice while doing it better by promoting the guidelines of WHO for the safe use of wastewater, excreta and greywater in agriculture.”
He then discussed how the issue of water is affecting places such as Pakistan and sub-Saharan Africa.
“Flooding is on the rise causing immeasurable human suffering along with devastating economic impacts. Last year flooding in Pakistan along the Indus River severely affected 20 million people with an economic impact of nearly $10 billion U.S. dollars. By the way, this week more than 700 thousand people have been affected by rain and floods in Pakistan and we hardly even hear about it in our media anymore!
“Sub-Saharan Africa is already encountering increased temperatures and evaporation rates, greater rainfall variability along with more pests and diseases. In this region we have proof that Gross Domestic Product and rainfall are closely correlated, with GDP falling dramatically in drought years, as well as in flood years. As we sit here today, drought is contributing to a terrible tragedy in the Horn of Africa. Some 10 million people are at risk in this region as two years of drought and poor governance have forced food prices beyond the reach of most families.
“In South Asia, an overwhelming 85% of total water use goes towards agricultural needs. At the same time, agriculture is also an extremely inefficient user of water: water productivity, measured as crop per drop, is one of the lowest in the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, 97% of agricultural production is dependent on rainfall and only 3% of the cultivated area is irrigated. This has led to urgent calls for greater investment both by governments and donors.”
At the close of his speech, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander thanked the GWP for its hardwork and pointed out how the Partnership has grown and could affect the future.
To read the speech in its entirety, click here.
Speech: Het Koninklijk Huis
This past Tuesday saw Crown Prince Willem Alexander represent the Netherlands in South Africa for the World Water Day conference. This year’s event focused on “Water for Cities” and discussed how urban areas could have clean drinking water and sanitation.
 Het Koninklijk Huis For World Water Day, Willem Alexander took part in several events, including the Amanzi Moola match where five teams competed for their solutions for water related problems and presented their findings to a jury. The Crown Prince also ran for the Walk for Love of Water, plus attend two meetings, one being the “Water and Disaster” seminar, and the other for the General Assembly of the Global Water Operators Partnerships Alliance.
Willem Alexander is President of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB) and has held this position for a few years.
World Water Day was created in 1994 by the United Nations to campaign for sufficient and clean water for everyone.
Sources: De Telegraaf, The Royal Forums blog
Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander is currently spending three days in Japan, where he is doing his duty as a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on water and sanitation, a cause the Crown Prince is very active in.
 REUTERS/Imperial Household Agency of Japan/Handout He arrived Monday and attended the Asahi Environmental Forum. Later in the evening, Willem Alexander met with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko for dinner at the Imperial Palace.
At the Forum, the Crown Prince gave a keynote speech about the need for clean water and proper sanitation in developing countries.
“Water is life. Our life,” he said. “Water plays a vital role in almost every aspect of life. Our economy; our food; our safety; our health; our nature; our living environment; our culture. Water – or a shortage of it – is a decisive factor in all of them.”
“Nowadays, we take it all for granted: dry feet, clean water from the tap, being able to move around freely, and having enough food at affordable prices. But you only have to open a newspaper, or switch on the television to see the reality.
“This summer, millions of people in Pakistan lost their homes in devastating floods. Nearly 2,000 people were killed. The impact of the disaster is immense. Harvests have failed. Farmland is useless. Roads and railway lines have been destroyed. Schools and hospitals have been swept away. Infectious diseases are rife. There is no drinking water. It will take a very long time for the people in the stricken areas to get their lives back in order.
“The reverse happened in Russia this summer, with the worst drought in many years. Twenty per cent of the wheat harvest failed and devastating forest fires polluted the air in Moscow.
“We need to take account of changing weather patterns. Far more rain falling in some places, and far less in others. That applies to Japan and the Netherlands as much as to Pakistan and Russia.”
Willem Alexander then mentioned integrated water resources management.
“We have to link water to spatial planning, economic policy, agriculture, health and disaster prevention. We also have to join hands across national borders. The impact of climate change on the world’s shared freshwater resources makes the need for viable transboundary management instruments even more pressing.
“The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, COP 15, focused attention on curbing greenhouse gas emissions. It is essential that we do so. But even if we manage to make crystal-clear agreements on that issue, we will still have to adapt to the demands water places on us. Water is after all the primary medium through which climate change influences Earth’s ecosystems and thus the livelihood and well-being of societies.”
Willem Alexander then highlighted the devastation of poor drinking water and sanitation in Third World countries.
“2.5 billion people still have no access to these basic facilities. The same people we expect to be working on their development – to be sending their children to school, and to be feeling responsible for the future of their country.
“But how can you work and learn properly without enough clean water, without even a toilet? Would you send your children to a school that had no toilets? 440 million school days are lost each year through illness caused by poor hygiene. Poor sanitation costs sub-Saharan Africa more money than all the development aid and debt relief going into the region put together.”
“Much has been achieved in the past ten years,” the Crown Prince said, switching to a more positive note.
“Figures from UNICEF and the World Health Organisation show that nearly 1.5 billion people have acquired drinking water from an improved source since 1990. We will very probably achieve the MDG [Millenium Development Goals] target for drinking water by 2015. I would ask all the sceptics who don’t believe in the power of international agreements to consider this enormous leap forward. At the same time, I must also point out that water quality is still an issue that warrants far more attention. If we supply people with water, it must of course be clean and safe to drink.
“Around 1.3 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation since 1990. That is very impressive. But even at this rate we will not achieve the MDG target. We could give up, and decide that it was simply not to be. But there are still five years to go. We can make a final sprint. We can achieve the target, but only if we give it everything we’ve got.”
With that, Willem Alexander closed his speech. “I have told you about water, my great passion: water that is all around us, the source of life, food, growth, development and health.
“Let us treat it accordingly. By including it in all our plans. By adapting to the demands it makes. By giving it a prominent place on the agenda at Cancún.”
To read more of his speech, click here
On Tuesday, Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria was on hand to give out the annual Junior World Water Prize during Stockholm’s World Water Week. Usually the Crown Princess is the one who gives out the award, and this year she did not fail to dazzle everyone.
 Photo: Business Wire The Swedish press went mad with Victoria’s long earrings, tight hair bun but most of all, her lilac dress. Designed by the label Greta, it should her slim, fit body nicely. Some publications such as Svensk Damtidining noted how over the past year, Victoria’s fashion sense has blossomed into something “prettier, hotter and cooler. She has developed a personal style and ensure that feels classic yet updated and trendy. And of course it is partly her love for Daniel that made her so radiantly beautiful but it is not the answer.”
But there was more to Tuesday night than what the Crown Princess wore. For two Canadian teens, it was a big night for them as they took home prize money and sculptures in honor of their science experiment regarding styrofoam cleaning up polystyrene waste.
Alexandre Allard and Danny Luong of Quebec City, who are both 19, say they were inspired after reading a report about how polystyrene breaking down in the ocean can release toxic molecules. The two then came up with a technique that uses bacteria to break down the foam plastic used in many disposable cups, fast-food containers and packing materials. They went on to experiment their find at a local dump, collected soil in areas where there was a lot of polystyrene, and learned that bacteria could break down plastic into carbon dioxide.
Allard and Luong won $5,000 and are planning to further conduct tests and experiments to see if their findings could clean up styrofoam waste.
Source: Svensk Damtidining, CBC
The Netherlands’ Crown Prince Willem-Alexander was given a warm applause when he completed the Run for Water race on Sunday at Amsterdam’s Olympic Stadium. Always mindful of water and sanitation issues, the Crown Prince was pleased he took part in order to draw attention to the problems. 
Willem-Alexander originally canceled his participation because he was supposed to represent the Netherlands at the funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczynski. But when airlines were postponed from the ash clouds of an Icelandic volcano, the Prince canceled going to that event and instead took part in the race anyway.
The six kilometer race included hundreds of other runners. Willem-Alexander was accompanied by two security guards, one on foot, the other on a bicycle.
As mentioned, the Crown Prince is very much involved in water and sanitation issues. He is currently chairman of the Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation at the United Nations.
Sources: Nieuws, De Gelderlander
 PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFP/Getty Images/FILE On Thursday, the Crown Prince of the Netherlands received an award for his contribution towards water and sanitation issues in Africa.
Willem-Alexander was given the AMCOW AfricaSan Award by the Council of African Ministers responsible for Water (AMCOW) for his work to improve water, sanitation and hygiene on the continent. He also won the award for his work by promoting the issue to African leaders.
Crown Prince Willem-Alexander is quite active in this field. He is the Chairman of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board for Water and Sanitation.
The award was given out in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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.
Three royal princes were among the hundreds dignitaries to gather in Istanbul, Turkey for the World Water Forum. 
These royals were Prince Albert II of Monaco, Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, and Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito.
Held every three years, this summit is dedicated to finding ways to perserve and maintain global water resources. This year, the forum focused on climate change, the increasing demands for water and sanitation.
The sanitation issue was right up Crown Prince Willem-Alexander’s alley. As a Chairman of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board for Water and Sanitation, the Crown Prince gave a speech on the topic Tuesday at Istanbul’s Ciargan Palace.
Willem-Alexander opened his speech by mentioning the world economic crisis, and how it was not a reason to allow 40% of the world’s poor to continue to live in their conditions.
“It is precisely because of the financial crisis that I am also concerned about the world’s poorest people. How hard will they be hit? Achieving the Millennium Development Goals is already proving difficult. We need to work even harder to fulfil our promise. Will the world simply give up because it is harder now? I say, no, we must not give up.”
The Crown Prince then brought up how much clean water is needed in developing countries and the funds are lacking.
“We know that water and proper sanitation have direct effects on health, education, food production and poverty alleviation, but also are directly correlated to economic development. So how do we expect to achieve the MDGs [Millenium Development Goals] without decent water supplies and sanitation? The answer is, ladies and gentlemen, we can’t. We need far more money. We need to increase and/or leverage the investment.”
He went on to encourage governments and banks to find ways to fund the resources needed for clean water.
“Rather than fold our tents and throw up our hands, the challenge is for all of us to work together and become more innovative and creative. We must encourage individual countries to develop their debt markets, change their policies towards the local authorities’ responsibilities and provide them with the legal and administrative tools and training to develop, finance and manage their own infrastructure.”
 “We all agree that the current financial crisis is unprecedented in our life times and calls for strong, collective measures to secure our economies and safeguard our social systems. However, the unanimous commitment made by world leaders in 2000 to fighting world poverty and achieving the millennium development goal targets by 2015 still needs to be followed up seriously and given the highest priority.”
A day earlier, Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito gave his keynote speech at the forum. It was then he cited the need for the global community to make efforts to prevent global warming as it is closely related to water-related issues in the world.
He then stressed the significance of the participants discussing global water issues freely and conveying their achievements to the world.
Naruhito has long been interested in issues involving water. This is his third time attending the World Water Forum.
A day after awarding a young American scientist with innovative ideas on water, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden awarded another renouned researcher for his findings on water. 
British Professor Anthony Allan, from King’s College, University of London, was awarded a $150,000 cash reward at a banquet at Stockholm City Hall. The award was for his studies on how food production consumes vast volumes of water, including his concept of ‘virtual water’ that measures water used in the production of food and industrial products. Allan came up with the idea of virtual water in the early 90s.
This calculation method has changed the nature of trade policy and research and is now imbedded in the production of foods and industrial products.
The Stockholm Water Prize is a global award founded in 1990 and presented annually by the Stockholm Water Foundation to an individual, organization or institution for outstanding water-related research.
A young American scientist was awarded $5,000 by Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria at the International Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition. The prize is for young people, ages 15 – 20, who work in water related sciences.
Joyce Chai of Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in Rolling Hills Estates, California, received the prize for her work on nanomaterials. In addition to the monetary prize, Chai also got a crystal sculpture and an all expense trip to Stockholm.
The student’s work, “Modeling the Toxic Effects of Silver Nanoparticles under Varying Environmental Conditions,” demonstrated a novel technique to quantifying the potential toxicity of silver nanoparticles to the world’s water sources and the environment as well as repudiated the assertion that consumer products that contain nanosilver are more reliable and less environmentally hazardous.
The award was handed out during World Water Week being held in Stockholm. Crown Princess Victoria is overseeing the Week, while her parents – the King and Queen of Sweden – are cheering on Sweden at the Beijing Olympics. The princess is also patron of the Stockholm Junior Water Prize.
To learn more about World Water Week, click here
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