Girls Sweep 2016 U.S. SJWP Competition

From left, the winners of the 2016 U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP) were Bjorn von Euler Innovation in Water award recipient Sarayu Das; runner-up Paige Brown; winner Nishith Sinha; and runner-up Megan Lange. Photo courtesy of AOB Photo.

In June, 54 students representing 47 states and Puerto Rico gathered at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to compete in the 2016 U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP) competition. This year, four girls took home the top awards from the competition. This year marks the first time that girls have earned every top spots in the national competition since 1997.

Nishita Sinha from Chatham, N.J. won first place for her research on improving the operation of composting toilets that are being installed in India. For more information about her research, read the WEF Highlights article, “U.S. SJWP Winner Applies Sanitation Research to Toilets in India” or read her research report, “Experimental Studies in Developing Safe Sanitation Solutions.” She will represent the U.S. at the international SJWP competition in Stockholm during World Water Week, Aug. 28–Sept. 2.

Two runners up – Paige Brown from Bangor, Maine, and Megan Lange from Auburn, Ala. – each received $1000.  Brown won for her research “Constructing Low Cost Calcium Alginate Based Scaffolds for Pollutant Reduction.” Lange won for her research, “Removal of BTEX from Storm Water Using Nanoparticle Enhanced Reactive Porous Concrete: Field Testing and Modeling.”

In June, 54 students represented 47 states and Puerto Rico at the U.S. SJWP competition held at theUniversity of North Carolina. Photo courtesy of AOB Photo.

As recipient of the Bjorn von Euler Innovation in Water award, Sarayu Das from Columbia, S.C., received $1000 for her research, “The Effect of Tri Sprintec and Metformin and Their Doses on the Mortality and Reproduction of Ampullariidae, Daphnia Magna, and Lemnoideae and the Heart Rate of Daphnia Magna in Aquatic Ecosystems.”

The Water Environment Federation (Alexandria, Va.) and its Member Associations organize the regional, state, and national SJWP competition with support from Xylem Inc. (Rye Brook, N.Y.). Xylem also sponsors the international competition and the Bjorn von Euler Innovation in Water Scholarship award.

— Jennifer Fulcher, WEF Highlights