Water campaigner shortlisted for prestigious international prize

Cremona was shortlisted in two of the three categories of the competition: namely, research and awareness raising.

The organisers do not provide information on the number of nominations received or the number of shortlisted contestants, but competition guidelines indicate that are a maximum of four shortlisted contestants in each category.

The next stage will consist in the selection of three finalists, with the finalist being selected and awarded the award (along with a $150,000 prize) on World Water Day in March.

Over the past few years, Cremona has relentlessly worked to increase awareness about Malta’s threatened water resources.

As an activist, he was instrumental in stopping the development of high-profile water-unsustainable projects in Malta, such as golf courses.

Since 2001, as a volunteer, he provided his professional expertise in water treatment, rainwater harvesting and anaerobic digestion for projects in Kenya (2001), post-tsunami Sri Lanka (2007 and 2008), Tanzania (2010) and Ethiopia (2011).      

In 2006, in collaboration with the national water utility (Water Services Corporation), Cremona developed what is probably the world’s first urban-stormwater-to-drinking-water process. 

In 2007, he developed HOTER, a membrane-based process that treats wastewater from hotels to potable water quality, thus reducing water demand by 85%. In 2009, HOTER made it to the finals of the prestigious CNBC/Allianz Good Entrepreneur Competition.

Since 2005, Cremona’s two-person household has been completely self-sufficient in water use. The house is considered a model in sustainable living in Malta and has been extensively documented by local and international TV stations. In 2009, the house won the France 5 Report Terre award as the Best Environmental Project in the EU.

During 2011, Marco developed GEO-INF, a Sustainable Urban Drainage System that channels rainwater falling on roofs into underlying aquifers, in order to prevent flooding and enhance groundwater recharge.

In March 2011, Cremona, along with other professionals in the sector, set up the Malta Water Association.

Past winners of the Stockholm award include Dr Rita Colwell, President of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, Dr Bindeshawar Pathak – who founded an   organisation to promote human rights, environmental sanitation, non-conventional sources of energy which now counts 50,000 volunteers – and Dr John Anthony Allen, who coined the revolutionary ‘virtual water’ concept which measures the amounts of water embedded in the production and trade of food and consumer products.