Water-borne diseases resulting from a lack of clean drinking water and poor sanitation kill more children each year than any other illness in the world. By 2030, when today's 10-year-old will be working and raising a family, experts estimate that three billion people will live in areas of severe water shortage. In an effort to raise awareness of these issues and others related to water, and to encourage further exploration of solutions to these problems, ITT Industries has established the ITT Award for Excellence in Student Water Journalism, an international program to recognize aspiring journalists. By encouraging future journalists to report on water and the environment, ITT aims to move these issues to the top of agendas communities around the world.

These national awards will recognize high school students for their outstanding reporting - either in print or broadcast media - on a water-related environmental issue. The inaugural awards will be given in summer 2006 to students winning national contests in the United States and Sweden.

“Water is an essential element for life and our most precious resource, yet around the globe industrialized nations are squandering vast amounts while developing countries struggle to find access to a reliable supply of clean water,” says ITT chief executive officer Steven Loranger. “By creating and supporting the ITT Award for Excellence in Student Water Journalism we hope to encourage young people - our future leaders - to address these issues by raising the public's awareness of them.”