Rebecca Manzi Manoel José Nunes Neto won the People's Choice Award with his design of an aquatic rover that uses advanced sensors to address water contamination issues, particularly related to mercury pollution
@Stockholm Youth Water Award 2024
The young 17-year-old Brazilian hailing from the state of Piauí drew global attention at this year’s World Water Week 2024. In the international phase of the Stockholm Junior Water Prize, which represents Brazil, Manoel won an aquatic rover designed to help monitor water quality in areas far away from urban spaces with the prestigious People’s Choice Award, collecting over 400,000 votes.
Unfolding water pollution with a novel solution
This aquatic rover was developed under the supervision of Professor Eduardo Alves da Silva Carvalho and serves to meet an immediate and critical need for tools that are both low-cost and easily usable in order to counter water contamination, particularly mercury poisoning affecting riverine communities and the Yanomami people. Portable and autonomous, the equipment measures a series of key parameters with state-of-the-art sensors-such as pH, turbidity, and oxygen-all very useful to avoid health tragedies and help ensure environmental sustainability.
Young people can truly build a sustainable future
Manoel is a student at Colégio São Francisco de Sales Diocesano and was the winner of the national stage of the award, organized in Brazil by the Brazilian Association of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering – ABES and the Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in Sweden. His presence at the international award ceremony, held in the presence of Sweden’s royal family, showed the great contribution that young minds can give to scientific innovation.
His achievement resonated widely on social media. Manoel’s father, Ocimam Bomfim, expressed pride and gratitude for his son’s success, calling it a collective accomplishment that symbolizes Brazil’s potential. Piauí’s governor, Rafael Fonteles, publicly celebrated the win, emphasizing the project’s importance in elevating Piauí and Brazil onto the global scientific stage.
A victory for science, technology, and sustainability
The success of Manoel epitomizes the transformational power of science and technology in solving the most pressing societal problems. More than providing a workable solution to one complex problem, the aquatic rover demonstrates the potential of young minds to shape a sustainable future. It is not only a milestone in water science but has also proved that at any instance in life, with devotion and imagination, individuals can contribute significantly on an international platform.
Source: Stockholm Youth Water Award
