prize

Kelowna students' backpack-sized water filtration unit wins $20K prize

Kelowna students' backpack-sized water filtration unit wins $20K prize

Youthful Kelowna creators of a backpack-sized water filtration system won top prize Tuesday in a competition that aims to find engineering solutions to pressing water-related problems. Engineering students from UBC Okanagan won $20,000 to bring their invention, which is designed to produce clean water in adverse conditions for up to 128 weeks, to the commercial market. The prize was awarded by organizers of the AquaHacking 2021- Western Canadian Challenge, hosted by the Okanagan Basin Water Board. Twenty-one teams with members from as far away as Japan, Qatar, and Russia competed in the challenge, which was conducted online.