2010年的斯德哥爾摩水資源獎，頒給了專注於預防水源性疾病的美籍專家柯葳爾博士(Dr. Rita Colwell)，此獎項頒發給與水有關的研究或政策，是相關領域中全球公認首屈一指的獎項。
獎項包括15萬美元獎金與一座水晶雕塑，獎勵對於保育與保護水資源有功、改善地球棲地與生態環境健康的個人、機構或是組織，今年是斯德哥爾摩水資源獎第20屆舉辦，獎項將在斯德哥爾摩的水資源週活動中頒發給柯葳爾博士。
柯葳爾博士目前領導先進電腦科學與細胞生物暨分子遺傳研究所。她同時也是約翰霍普金斯大學彭博公共衛生學院兼任教授、佳能美國生命科學公司董事長(Canon US Life Sciences, Inc.)，以及國家科學基金會前會長。
柯葳爾博士所做出的卓越貢獻控制了霍亂蔓延，這種水源性傳染病每年使多達500萬人染病，並且導致約12萬人死亡。
她的工作建立了全世界環境與感染風險評估的基礎，她也是首度將霍亂發病率與氣候變化作出關聯的人。
依據她的發現，科學家們現在可以使用最先進的技術，將自然環境的變化與疾病傳播相連結。
柯葳爾博士也發展了第一個應用遙感衛星影像技術來追蹤，並預測霍亂即將爆發的模型。此一模型已成為世界各地傳染病監測與預防的原型。
「透過那些環繞地球衛星上的感應器，」她說，「我們可以實際地監測水體的溫度，也可以監測在許多情況下，帶有致病菌與病毒的季節性浮游生物。這讓我們有工具能夠預測疫情何時會發生。」
她說：「這讓我們找出在時間與空間的處理上，我們可以如何控制那些感染性疾病以保障公眾健康與安全。」
然而，她說最令她感到驕傲的是她一個最簡單的想法 - 用折疊的紗麗(譯者按：印度、孟加拉等地婦女所穿的長條布料)來過濾飲用水，以濾除水中帶有霍亂病菌的浮游生物。結果顯示，這個方法減少了霍亂在孟加拉65個村莊內，48%的發病率。
她在孟加拉的孟加拉灣的研究顯示，溫暖的表層海水會刺激帶有霍亂病原的浮游動物增長，並與霍亂病例數目的增加有關。
她是美國第一位領導研究實驗有關於聖嬰現象(El Nino)對人類健康與水生環境影響的人。柯葳爾博士也是1990年代，首批研究氣候變遷對傳染病傳播之影響的科學家之一。
本獎項的贊助者瑞典國王卡爾十六世˙古斯塔夫(H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf)，將會在2010年9月9日，斯德哥爾摩世界水資源週期間，於斯德哥爾摩市政廳舉辦的皇家頒獎典禮上，正式將斯德哥爾摩水資源獎頒發給柯葳爾博士。
斯德哥爾摩水資源獎提名委員會在其引言中指出：「柯葳爾博士的眾多開創性貢獻，對於解決全世界水資源以及與水有關的公共衛生問題上，特別是她對霍亂蔓延的防治工作，是最具全球重要性的。」「透過她在生理學、生態學以及新陳代謝的研究，柯葳爾博士先進的數學、遺傳學以及遙感技術不僅應用在病菌的領域，也對許多其他開發中國家的疾病預防有所貢獻」
柯葳爾博士表示：「個人對於得到斯德哥爾摩水資源獎深感榮幸。這獎項肯定了我整個職業生涯在用水安全與衛生所做的努力，謝謝各位。」
Dr. Rita Colwell, an American expert on the prevention of waterborne infectious diseases, has been awarded the 2010 Stockholm Water Prize, widely recognized as the world's premier award for water related research or policy work.
The prize, which includes a $150,000 award and a crystal sculpture, honors individuals, institutions or organizations whose work contributes to the conservation and protection of water resources and to improved health of the planet's inhabitants and ecosystems. The year 2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the Stockholm Water Prize and the World Water Week in Stockholm where it will be presented to Dr. Colwell.
Dr. Colwell heads the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies and Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics. She is also an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, chairman of Canon US Life Sciences, Inc. and a former director of the National Science Foundation.
Dr. Colwell has made exceptional contributions to control the spread of cholera, a waterborne pathogen that infects up to five million people and leads to an estimated 120,000 deaths each year.
Her work has established the basis for environmental and infectious disease risk assessment used around the world, and she was first to link the incidence of cholera to climate change.
As a result of her discovery, scientists are now able to link changes in the natural environment to the spread of disease using the most modern technologies.
Dr. Colwell developed the first model that applied remote satellite imaging to track and predict outbreaks of cholera before they occur. This model has become an archetype for infectious disease monitoring and prevention used around the world.
"Through the use of sensors on satellites that circle the globe," she said, "we can actually monitor the temperature of waterbodies, we can monitor the seasonality of the plankton that in many cases carry the pathogenic bacteria and viruses. So that gives us a tool for predicting when the outbreaks will occur."
"That allows us then to pinpoint both in time and space those treatments that we would apply for guaranteeing safety and public health to control those infectious diseases," she said.
Yet, she has said she may be proudest of her simplest idea - using folded sari cloth to filter from drinking water plankton with which the cholera bacterium is associated. The method was shown to reduce the incidence of the disease 48 percent across 65 villages in Bangladesh.
Her research in the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh demonstrated that warmer surface ocean temperatures stimulate growth of cholera-hosting zooplankton and are associated with an increase in the number of cholera cases.
In the United States she was the first to lead research experiments on the impact of El Nino on human health and the aquatic environment. In the 1990s, Dr. Colwell was one of the first scientists to research the impacts of climate change on the spread of infectious diseases.
H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, who is the patron of the Prize, will formally present Dr. Colwell with the 2010 Stockholm Water Prize at a Royal Award Ceremony in Stockholm City Hall on September 9 during the 2010 World Water Week in Stockholm.
"Dr. Colwell's numerous seminal contributions towards solving the world's water and water-related public health problems, particularly her work to prevent the spread of cholera, is of utmost global importance," noted the Stockholm Water Prize Nominating Committee in its citation. "Through her research on its physiology, ecology, and metabolism, Dr. Colwell advanced the fields of mathematics, genetics and remote sensing technology and not only as they relate to bacteria but to the prevention of other diseases in many developing countries."
"I'm deeply honored and most grateful to be the recipient of the Stockholm Water Prize," Dr. Colwell said. "It validates research that I've done in the area of water safety and health over an entire career, and for that I thank you."
作者
In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.
