RIYADH — On behalf of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, the Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Eng. Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli attended the ceremony of honoring the winners of the 9th session of Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Water Prize, which was held virtually.

The ceremony was attended by the Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations, Abdullah Bin Yahya Al-Mouallimi; President of King Saud University Chairman of the Award Board Dr. Badran Bin Abdulrahman Al-Omar; Secretary-General of the Award Dr. Abdulmalik Bin Abdulrahman Al-Sheikh; Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres; President The United Nations General Assembly Volkan Bozkir, and Head of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs Simonetta Di Pippo.

The ceremony coincided with World Water Day and the high-level international meeting held at the United Nations General Assembly, to discuss the implementation of water-related goals and targets for the 2030 agenda.

The participants expressed their appreciation of the award achievements since its establishment in 2002, and its focus on honoring the innovators in the various fields of water, as it became one of the most prestigious international prizes concerned with water.

This is attributed to the support of its founder, the late Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz, and the continuous support of Prince Khalid Bin Sultan.

The UN officials expressed their admiration for the award and its noble message that is in line with the directions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the international community, especially the United Nations, to solve humanitarian issues, topped by achieving water security and solving the problem of water scarcity.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, the Secretary-General of the Award called upon creative scientists around the world to nominate deserving people for the awards of the tenth session by the end of December 2021 through the following link www.psipw.org.

Leading international scientists with a diversity of backgrounds — including materials science, chemistry, engineering and environmental science, as well as hydrology — won the five prizes for a wide variety of relevant, groundbreaking solutions that promise to help provide needed drinking water to the world's people.

Worth $266,000, the Creativity Prize, which is awarded to water-related interdisciplinary work that can rightly be considered a breakthrough in any water-related field. The Creativity Prize was shared by two winning teams, the team of Dr. Benjamin S. Hsiao and the team of Dr. Sherif El-Safty.

Each of the four specialized prizes is worth$133,000. The Surface Water Prize covers every aspect of the study and development of surface water resources. The prize was won by Dr. Zbigniew Kundzewicz.

The Groundwater Prize awards work related to all aspects of the study and development of groundwater resources. The prize was won by Dr. J. Jaime Gómez-Hernández

The Alternative Water Resources Prize covers desalination, waste water treatment, and other non-traditional sources of water. The prize was won by Dr. Peng Wang

The Water Management & Protection Prize addresses the use, management, and protection of water resources. The prize was won by Dr. Jay R. Lund. — SPA