RIYADH: Individuals and leaders must use water responsibly and establish policies, plans and laws for its use, Prince Khaled Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, assistant minister of Defense and Aviation for Military Affairs, said ahead of the start of the International Conference on Water Resources and Arid Environment in Riyadh Tuesday. The prince's comment came during a banquet to announce the Prince Sultan International Prize for Water in its 4th session. Speaking at the function held at the Prince Sultan Grand Hall at Al-Faisalyia Hotel in Riyadh, Prince Khaled, who is also the chairman of the Prize, urged water scientists to participate in an honorable competition to alleviate mankind's suffering and solve the “water catastrophe.” Prince Khaled said the water crisis is essentially a crisis of mismanagement manifested in the lack of financing, absence of a well-defined policy in the field, and lack of international commitment to deal with countries threatening water security. The solution lays in legislative, political and economic reform to use sweet water more efficiently; increase quantities of desalinated and treated water; and use recycled water on cultivated lands. Prince Khaled also stressed the importance of a number of actions to reduce water use and increase care for the environment. He encouraged the application of the solar energy and fighting deforestation. He also called for serious, firm action to deal with pollution and for fair tariffs for water. When water is free, it encourages people and institutions to be irresponsible and wasteful, he said. He said the Prize's committee he chairs is making all efforts to develop and upgrade the award in the service of humanity to quench the thirst of the future generations who have nothing to do with the ongoing waste of water. Dr. Abdul Malik Aal Alsheikh, the Prize's secretary general and supervisor general of Prince Sultan Center for Environment, Water and Desert Research at King Saud University in Riyadh, announced the winners including the co-winners of the SR1 million Creativity Prize, Dr. Marek Zreda and Dr. Darin Desilets, from the US. Other winners received SR500,000. Deputizing for Crown Prince Sultan, Prince Ahmad Bin Abdul Aziz, deputy minister of Interior, inaugurated the event.
