The Committee of the Great Man-Made River International Water Prize for Water Resources in Arid Zones, presented by UNESCO, met on 22 October 2007, in Paris. The Committee recommended to the Director-General that the Prize should be awarded to a research team composed of specialists from the Centre for the Sustainability of semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas (SAHRA) at the University of Arizona, and the Centre for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing (CHRS)at the University of California, Irvine. The Prize will be awarded on the occasion of the World Science Day for Peace and Development, on 10 November 2007, at the Hungarian Parliament, in Budapest.

The centres, under the guidance of Professor J. Shuttleworth (SAHRA) and Professor S. Sorooshian (CHRS), are rewarded for their action in strengthening the capacity to manage the water resources of arid and semi-arid areas around the globe through a network of international and regional cooperation. The combined efforts of these two centres provided valuable support to G-WADI, UNESCO/IHP’s global network on water and development information for arid lands. Both SAHRA and CHRS worked together to develop the G-WADI website that provides information resources to support the scientific community and water managers worldwide, particularly in developing countries.

Centre for the Sustainability of semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas (SAHRA)

The mission of SAHRA, a National Science Foundation science and technology centre, is to promote sustainable management of water resources by conducting water resources-related science, outreach, and education in the context of critical water management issues of semiarid and arid regions.

The SAHRA Centre has been operating for 7 years now and includes participation by scientists from twelve US universities, national laboratories, and three federal agencies. It conducts state-of-the-art research in areas of arid zone hydrology relevant to water professionals and maintains an extensive and successful education and outreach programme which includes international outreach.

In the international arena, the SAHRA Centre undertakes research in semi-arid regions in collaboration with relevant national research agencies and universities. It also supports web-based international information transfer including G-WADI, the SAHRA Global Water News Watch, SAHRA Hydroarchive, as well as educational and advisory services in selected areas of international interest, including providing practical advice on isotope hydrology and rainwater harvesting.

Centre for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing (CHRS)

The CHRS, supported by the US National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the University of California, was established in 2003 at the University of California, Irvine, with the primary mission of extending the benefits of the vast technological resources of space and weather agencies in advanced countries into applications that can assist hydrologists and water resource managers worldwide in general, and more particularly in developing countries. The centre conducts state-of-the-art research in hydrologic modeling, improving hydrologic and water resources forecasts, and on remote sensing of precipitation. Through its advanced hydrometeorologic and remote sensing research and the utilization of state-of-the-art in information technology, CHRS has pioneered both the development and delivery of global real-time high-resolution precipitation estimates from satellite observations. The elements of the G-WADI GeoServer and the hydrologic data and information system (HyDIS), both developed and hosted at CHRS, provide a range of hydrometeorological and climate products with the goal of extending the ability of operational hydrologic agencies worldwide to improve the access to and timeliness of hydroemeteorlogical and hydroclimatological information that are essential for life saving forecasts.