Editor�s Note: The winner of the inaugural award for excellence in student water journalism is Alyse Rivo, an 18-year-old senior at Head-Royce School in Oakland, Calif. She was honored April 22 at a student journalism convention in San Francisco. The competition was sponsored by water treatment technology purveyor ITT Industries Inc. The winning article was selected by a jury of environmental, science and water journalists and industry leaders. Ritvo and her faculty advisor will attend the 2006 Stockholm Water Symposium. She also receives a $1,000 cash prize. This is what she wrote:
As Americans are turning away from safe, clean tap water in record numbers, over 1 billion people across the world lack access to safe drinking water.