The 2016 South African Youth Water Prize (SAYWP) Provincial Competitions are well underway with several winners announced.

The provincial winners will represent their respective provinces during the national SAYWP later this year where they will compete against the other provincial winners.

The national winners will go on to represent South Africa at the Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP) in Stockholm, Sweden in August. Here they will compete against learners from 30 other countries at the event which is organised annually to celebrate World Water Week in Sweden.

 

Winners

KwaZulu-Natal: Nonduduzo Mkhize, Siphokuhle Mbhele and Nolwazi Sithole won the KZN SAYWP for their innovative modified bio-sand filter system project. The trio are grade 11 learners from Mehlokazulu High School at Embali in Pietermaritzburg.

Western Cape: Abigail Murphy, a grade 10 learner from Outeniqua High school in George, outshone all the other participants in the Western Cape. Murphy impressed the judges with her awareness campaign on water quality. Her research is based on the impact of cigarette filters on water quality.

Mpumalanga: Learners from Khaliphani Secondary School from Mbombela Local Municipality outdid other competing provincial schools with their innovative water project. As a reward for their efforts, Khaliphani Secondary School won R3000.

 

South African Youth Water Prize

SAYWP is part of the 2020 Vision programme within the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) that seeks to promote science and technology learning among high school learners from grades 9 to 11.

It aims to encourage and empower youth to participate actively in integrated and community based water resource management. The competition also motivates youth to pursue water and sanitation management careers.

Through the SAYWP, youths get the opportunity to interact with their peers, share knowledge and experiences related to water and the environment. They identify problems related to water in their schools or communities, do research and recommend solutions to those problems.

The top three winners are awarded bursaries from DWS for careers in the water sector, tickets to Stockholm, an allowance for the trip, cash prizes and computers or laptops.