The Toronto Reference Library was a buzz on October 24th, 2018, as the Barley Prize competitors, partners, and supporters gathered together for the moment we’d all been waiting for: the announcement of the Pilot Phase winners.
After more than two years of testing their technologies in labs and in the field, the four finalists in The George Barley Water Prize were finally announced. Each received $125,000 to support their continuing research and development, and will compete in the fourth and final stage of the prize, known as Grand Challenge.
Meet the Final Four (Link to Final Four One Pager)
• Clean Water Machine – University of Idaho – Moscow, Idaho• Wetsus NaFRad – Leeuwarden, the Netherlands• Green Water Solution, Inc. – Wellington, Florida• U.S. Geological survey - Leetown Science Center – Kearneysville, West Virginia
ZeroPhos, from Nanjing, China, was announced as the first runner-up.
The winning teams will spend 2019 scaling up their technologies to take on the new challenges that await. The final stage of the Barley Prize will kick off summer 2020, and the competitors will treat 1-2.5 million gallons of water per day, for a total of 14 months.
With the support of Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection and the St. John’s River Water Management District, Grand Challenge will take place on Lake Jesup, near Orlando, Florida.