BP wins Lemelson award
The Lemelson-MIT Program today announced BP Agrawal as the recipient of the 2010 $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability in recognition of his creation of a community-driven rainwater harvesting system that alleviates shortages in rural India.
The system "rents rooftops from homeowners and channels the rooftop rainwater through gutters and pipes to a network of underground storage reservoirs," the program said in a press release. "This network of reservoirs is designed to provide 10 - 12 liters of water daily to every person in an entire village for a year."
Agrawal will accept the award and present his innovations to the public at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the Lemelson-MIT Program's fourth-annual EurekaFest, a multi-day celebration of the inventive spirit set for mid June, the Lemelson-MIT Program said.
Founded by inventor Jerome H. Lemelson and his wife, Dorothy, the Lemelson-MIT Program seeks to recognize the outstanding inventors and innovators transforming our world, and inspires young people to pursue creative lives and careers through innovation. To date, the Lemelson Foundation has donated or committed more than U.S. $150 million in support of its mission.