Since 2009, the Inter-American Development Bank and FEMSA Foundation have granted the Water and Sanitation Award for Latin America and the Caribbean, in order to recognize innovative solutions in the water, sanitation, and solid waste sectors that have achieved measurable progress in the implementation and improved quality and access to the service.
In the 2023 edition, solutions addressing one or more of the following topics were considered of interest: (1) Sanitation provision technologies in peri-urban areas and informal settlements; (2) Utilization and/or reuse of sludge to enhance local productive development; (3) Wastewater reuse systems.
With a total of 115 proposals submitted from 11 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the award was conducted through the platform www.premio-bidfemsa.com and coordinated by tekuoia.
The final review resulted in 52 assessable submissions: 31 in the Idea category (category 1) and 21 in the Project category (category 2). After a thorough evaluation process, 12 solutions were selected for category 1 (ideas) and 12 solutions for category 2 (projects).
The 3 finalist teams from category 2 and the winning team from category 1 traveled to Stockholm for the World Water Week organized by SIWI from August 20 to 24 to showcase their solutions at the world's most important event in the sector. This year, the focus was on innovation and reimagining water management. What ideas, innovations, and governance systems will we need in a more unstable and water-scarce world?
The winners of the award this year are:
- Ruruka, won in the Green Ideas category, thanks to their creative approach to recycling residual sludge into materials!
- AQUAKIT, victorious in the Scalable Project category, for their outstanding technology in greywater recycling.
The ninth edition of the BID-FEMSA Water and Sanitation Award was held on November 13th and 14th, 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina during the Water and Development Congress & Exhibition 2017, organized by the International Water Association (IWA). Seven (7) finalists, selected through a competitive process, pitched their solutions to the jury during the final round live and competed for the three (3) prizes of the Award (see BID-FEMSA Award call in English and Spanish)
The jury selected the following solutions as the winners of the 2016 edition. The winners received USD$ 15 thousand, USD$ 10 thousand and USD$5 thousand for the first, second and third place accordingly. See winners’ announcement in Spanish.
First place: WaterAir
Second place: Ekofil
Third place: Fluid
The eighth edition of the BID-FEMSA Water and Sanitation Award was held on November 15th and 16th, 2016 in Demand Solutions Buenos Aires. The award ceremony took place on November 16th during the Venture Night, where three (3) of the finalists solutions, that were selected through a competitive process, on water, sanitation and hygiene issues were awarded with the BID-FEMSA Water and Sanitation Award.
The jury selected the following solutions as the winners of the 2016 edition:
First place: Sin Zika
Second place: Smart Wells
Third place: Cplantae
Water and Sanitation category:
Agua Para La Vida, Nicaragua: Software NeatWork
Solid Waste:
Mundano: Pimp My Carroça
Innovation:
Fundación Akvo: Akvo Flow y Akvo Caddisfly
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