U.S. 2014 Stockholm Junior Water Prize Winner Announced

Deepika Kurup from Nashua, N.H., was named the U.S. winner of the 2014 Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP)—the most prestigious international competition for water-related research—during a ceremony at the Hilton Dulles Airport Hotel in Herndon, Va.

Kurup’s project, “A Novel Photocatalytic Pervious Composite for Degrading Organics and Inactivating Bacteria in Wastewater” was selected from 48 state SJWP winners at the national competition that was held June 13-14. Her research offers options for safe, cost-effective and eco-friendly wastewater treatment by integrating an enhanced photocatalytic advanced oxidation process with filtration using novel pervious composites.

Kurup received $10,000 and an all-expense paid trip to Stockholm, Sweden where she will represent the U.S. at the international competition during World Water Week, Aug. 31-Sept. 5, 2014. The international winner will receive $15,000 presented during a royal ceremony by the prize’s Patron HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden.

Other competition winners included the two U.S. runners up, Bluyé DeMessie (Mason, Ohio) and Zachary Loeb (Melbourne, Fla.) who each received $1,000, as well as Jack Andraka (Crownsville, Md.) and Chloe Diggs (Glen Burnie, Md.), who were joint recipients of the Bjorn von Euler Innovation in Water Scholarship Award.  

In the United States, the Water Environment Federation and its Member Associations organize the national, state and regional SJWP competitions with support from Xylem Inc., who also sponsors the international competition and the $1,000 Bjorn von Euler Innovation in Water Scholarship Award.

Source: Water Environment Federation