In 2009, support also came from ANDRITZ HYDRO, Coca-Cola Hellenic, Kommunalkredit Public Consulting, Verbund, the City of Vienna (MD 31) and several provincial governments. NEPTUN is a great contribution to raising awareness of water as our most important resource and promoting innovative ideas related to water.

In the ten years of its existence, about 13,200 project proposals have been received. Submissions to the 2009 NEPTUN Water Prize awarded in Vienna on 19th March included personal water impressions, scientific achievements and works of art. The winners in each of five categories were honoured with a prize money of 3,000 €. The total prize money was 38,000 €.

Ideas for a sustainable water management at global level were awarded in the category “WasserWELT”. The prime focus was on selfhelp projects launched by private individuals and companies in Austria. The winner in this category, Johann Gnadlinger from Upper Austria, has been actively engaged over the last decade in helping to improve the supply of drinking water to an arid region in Brazil.

230,000 water abstraction points have meanwhile been set up under the “One Million Cisterns” project, which aims to provide access to clean drinking water for five million people by the year 2015. A parallel project to One Million Cisterns seeks to give each farmer’s family a block of land for growing their own vegetables.

The prize awarded in the “WasserSCHUTZ” category went to Verbund Austrian Hydro Power AG for the successful development of innovative fish migration aids. The migration aids, which are also required by the Water Framework Directive, have a modular design and rely on the use of special low-energy pumps.

Prizes for communication and awarenessraising in the water sector were awarded in the category “WasserKOMMUNIKATION”. The winning project was a “user information leaflet for Planet Earth”. This leaflet developed by graphic designer Angie Rattay looks like a prescribing information leaflet for patients using medical drugs and gives instructions on how to sustainably “use” our planet. This humorous and appealing little brochure features a special section on the hydrosphere.

Winner of the category “WasserKREATIV” is the artist Hannes Seebacher, who dedicates much of his work to water as the basic element for living organisms. With his “black mesa” installation set up in a water tower in 2008, he impressively visualised the impact of the coal industry on our global water balance.

Water as the fundamental element of life was also the central point of the audience category “WasserLEBT”. Water aficionados were invited to send in their favourite pictures or texts. The best Austrian water picture was chosen from as many as 1,991 submissions. The winner in this category, Josef Hinterleitner from Upper Austria, was for the first time not selected by a jury but by online voting. The winning photo shows a gardener watering young plants.

Overall winner: Aid Programme “Wassertropfen” by WDL

The overall winner honoured for the best and most sustainable project was Wasserdienstleistungs GmbH – WDL (an Energie AG Oberösterreich subsidiary) with its aid programme “Wassertropfen” (drop of water). The programme, launched in conjunction with Caritas and a number of Upper Austrian communities, helps to bring clean drinking water to the poorest members of society such as the DRC. The company has chosen an innovative fund-raising approach: it donates one euro per 1,000 cubic metres of tap water sold to a Caritas aid fund.

Several communities have followed their example. Christian Hasenleithner, who heads the water division of Energie AG, is excited: “20,000 euros have already been raised since the project was first launched on World Water Day 2008.” The NEPTUN prize money of 5,000 euros also flows into the Drop of Water project.
(Source: aqua press Int. 2/2009, Mag. Christof Hahn)