Petra Wadstrom wins the Polhems prize for inventing Solvatten

Used in collaboration with the UN and praised by President Obama, Petra Wadstrom’s portable water purifier has saved the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world. Now she has been awarded the distinguished Polhems prize for Swedish engineering for inventing Solvatten, which uses sunlight to convert unsafe water into clean, warm water. 

“Her invention is seemingly simple but ingenious,” said the Polhems jury. “It helps to solve the growing global – and in many cases acute – problem of the lack of clean water.”

The prize, which consists of 250,000 Swedish kronor and a gold medal, was awarded at a special ceremony on November 18th (2013).

The Solvatten consists of a double-barelled plastic container that folds up like a book. Dirty water is poured through a filter on one side, and then the sun’s heat and UV rays neutralize the various microbiological contaminants. After two to six hours, ten litres of clean, warm water can be drained from the other side.

Thanks to Petra Wadstrom’s invention, approximately 80,000 people in 20 countries now have access to clean drinking water. In just one area of Mali, where Solvatten is used in collaboration with the UN, deadly diarrheal diseases in children have fallen by 60 percent.

Because you don’t have to boil the water, the device also saves trees from being felled for fuel. Indeed, five or six medium-sized trees are estimated to be saved per family per year, which means that soil erosion and greenhouse gas emissions are also reduced.

Women especially benefit from having a Solvatten as they are often the ones responsible for arranging water, food and firewood.

“I wanted to find a tool that women could use themselves, and therefore ensure they weren’t dependent on anyone,” says Petra Wadstrom.

The Polhem Prize is a highly prestigious Swedish prize awarded by Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers (formerly Civilingenjörsförbundet and Svenska Teknologföreningen) for a high-level technological innovation or an ingenious solution to a technical problem.

The innovation must offer environmental benefits and be available – and competitively priced – on the open market. Examples of previous winners are Baltzar von Platen, Carl Munthers and Håkan Lans.

Free pictures of Polhemspriset winner Petra Wadström can be found here. ( Photo: David Wadström david.wadstrom@solvatten.s )

Petra Wadström: quick facts

Other prizes: Can Polhemsplatsen Prize in 2013 by the Swedish Engineers for her invention, the Solvatten

Background: Trained as a research assistant in biochemistry at Karolinska Institutet. She has, however, been an artist for most of her working life.  Now the CEO of Solvatten AB.

Born: 1952 in Stockholm

Lives in : Åkersberga

Contact details: Telephone: +46 (0)732533909 or +46 (0)8-777 29 05

Polhemsplatsen prize: quick facts

History: Set up in 1876, in memory of Sweden's great inventor Christopher Polhemsplatsen ( 1661-1751 ) . The prize is a gold medal and 250 000 kroner.

Among the previous winners : Baltzar von Platen and Carl Munthers for a refrigerator (1925) , Ove Fernö for smoking-cessation product Nicorette (1987) , Lansfor GPS (1995), Laila Ohlgren for a "green button" on mobile phones ( 2009).

More facts , interviews, photos and videos are available on www.polhemspriset.se

For more information:

Johan Sittenfeld , Secretary Polhemsplatsen Prize Committee, +46 (0)70-653 82 05

Lasse Årling , Press Secretary, +46 (0)70-329 80 08