Media Advisory: $10 Million Water Prize Finalists Announcement

At Stake: Removing Algae-Causing Phosphorus From Waterways

TORONTO, Oct. 23, 2018 /CNW/ - The final four teams competing for the $10 million George Barley Water Prize to find a safe and effective way to remove algae-causing phosphorus in water supplies will be announced on Wednesday, October 24 at 4:30 PM at the Toronto Reference Library's Epic Hall, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto.

Modeled after the innovation awards that inspired Charles Lindbergh's solo flight from New York to Paris and that led to the development of privately funded commercial space travel, The George Barley Water Prize is a $10 million award to the team that can develop a safe, scalable and commercially viable means of reducing phosphorus in fresh water supplies. Phosphorus is commonly used in fertilizers and its accumulation has been tied to outbreaks of algae, sometimes toxic, in fresh water bodies across the globe.

Launched by The Everglades Foundation in 2016, the Barley Prize has attracted 104 teams from 13 countries. After extensive laboratory tests, the nine remaining teams have completed months of cold water field tests at Ontario's Lake Simcoe Watershed. The four remaining teams will go on to test their technologies over a 14 month "Grand Challenge" at Lake Jesup, Florida, near Orlando.

The ten remaining teams are: Global Phosphate Solutions, (GPS), Idaho Falls, Idaho; Green Water Solutions, Inc., Wellington, Florida; the University of Idaho's Nexom Clean Water Machine Team, Moscow, Idaho; the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario; the U.S. Geological Survey, Leetown Science Center, Kearneysville, West Virginia; Wetsus NaFRAd ULTRA, Leeuwarden, Netherlands; ECONSE Water Purification Systems, Inc., Toronto, Ontario; ZeroPhos, Nanjing, China; and RePleNish, Richboro, Pennsylvania.

The George Barley Water Prize is sponsored by The Everglades Foundation in association with The Scott's Miracle-Gro Foundation as its presenting sponsor, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Ontario Ministry of Environment, The Field Museum, The Chicago Community Trust, Xylem Inc. and the Knight Foundation.

SOURCE The Everglades Foundation