Adriana Alcántara Ruiz, Dalia Graciela Díaz Gómez, and Carlos Hernández Mejía from Mexico were awarded the prestigious 2007 Stockholm Junior Water Prize on Aug. 14, 2007 in a formal ceremony during World Water Week in Stockholm. The students from the Cultural Institute of Paideia in Toluca, Mexico, received the Prize, a $5,000 scholarship and a crystal sculpture.
The Stockholm Junior Water Prize is presented each year to high-school age students for outstanindg water-related projects that focus on topics of environmental, scientific, social or technological importance.
The students, according to the Nominating Committee, “developed a novel approach to adsorb lead in industrial wastewater by utilizing eggshells, a locally abundant bio-organic waste material.” By mixing groud-up eggshells in a liquid lead solution, the students successfully removed more than 90% of lead pollutants from liquid waste. The process can be applied in both small-scale industries and large industrial operations.
Source: SIWI