Water experts head for Stockholm 

Thousands of water experts from around the world are preparing to gather in Sweden to put global issues such as sanitation, scarce water resources and climate change under the microscope.

The theme for the 2008 World Water Week conference, which kicks off in Stockholm on Sunday August 17, will be sanitation.

It follows the publication last month of a joint report from the World Health Organization and children’s fund Unicef warning that more than 2.5 billion people around the world do not have proper access to sanitation.

More than 40 of the conference sessions will explore sanitation and hygiene during the week, while Wednesday and Thursday will be water and climate days.

Water issues in Asia will be in the spotlight on Tuesday. Water availability on the continent is currently 15-30 percent of what it was in the 1950s, while industry, agriculture, economy and population continue to grow.

Representatives of business, governments, NGOs, training institutes and United Nations agencies are among the delegates due to participate.

Host organization the Stockholm International Water Institute said a number of key reports would be released during the week.

The Stockholm Water Prize, the Stockholm Industry Water Award and a host of other awards will also be handed out.

This year’s Stockholm Water Prize has been won by British professor Anthony John Allan for his work developing the concept of “virtual water.”  

Allan, of King’s College London, introduced virtual water in 1993 as a unit to measure how much water is necessary in the production and trade of food and consumer products.

Sources: Edie, The Local