Used water ought to be viewed as a resource and not merely a nuisance to dispose of, says South African-born scientist James Barnard, this year’s Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize Laureate.
Delivering the Singapore Water Lecture yesterday afternoon, Dr Barnard said he sees water reclamation as a means not just to recover water, but also essential nutrients such as phosphorus.
Recognised for inventing an environment-friendly and cost-effective method to treat used water using micro-organisms instead of chemicals, Dr Barnard received $300,000, an award certificate and a gold medallion from former premier Lee Kuan Yew at a banquet at the Ritz-Carlton last night.
Dr Barnard will use part of the prize money to set up an endowment for his alma mater Stellenbosch University because South Africa is ‘producing only 20 per cent of engineers needed in such a water-strapped country’.
He will also donate part of the money to the University of Johannesburg and University of Texas at Austin.
Dr Barnard will channel the rest of the prize money to continue his research, mentoring the younger generation and teaching.
Since his invention in the 1970s, Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR)-based technology has been adopted in thousands of plants in the US, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and more recently in developing countries such as China and Brazil. Singapore also uses a variant of BNR technology in water treatment.
In response to a question on why great water technology ideas are not being adopted quickly enough, Dr Barnard said he was fortunate to have the backing of people in Johannesburg who first used his BNR technology.
