Five finalists picked for water, wastewater award

The Research Council (TRC) on Wednesday announced the five finalists for the Salalah Award for Water and Wastewater.

It is an initiative organised by TRC and supported by Salalah Sanitary Drainage Services Company.

The five finalists will receive RO1,000 as financial support for their projects.

The five final projects are ‘Leakage detector’ by Sara Yahya Ismail al Balushi, Usama Ali Salim al Qarawashi and Mohammed Saoud Salim al Azri; ‘Activated carbon from sludge for waste treatment and desalination’ by Wafa Aqib Nasser al Rawahi, Hanadi Ahmed al Ameriya, Marwa Yahya al Riyami and Maryam al Hashmi; ‘Smart microbial desalination for wastewater treatment and electricity recovery with real-time monitoring’ by Abdullah al Mamun, Tahirih Jafari and Ali Mousavi; ‘Wastewater treatment by electrocoagulation process’ by Emad Abdullah Alobiadoon, and ‘Air conditioner waste to drink water’ by Mohd Shariq Khan.

The award aims to come up with innovative ideas and solutions on the challenges facing the water sector and convert them into products and services.

The finalists were chosen by a jury based on the clarity and originality of the applicants’ innovative ideas, the economic and social feasibility of the idea and its competitive advantage, and the applicability of the innovation to the local environment, to name a few.

The final evaluation and announcement of the winners will be made in February 2020.

The winners will be honoured in March 2020 in an official ceremony.

The first-placed winner will receive RO4,000 and the second-placed winner will receive RO2,000.