Australia’s SkyJuice Foundation wins top global prize for emergency water innovation

SkyJuice Foundation from Australia has been awarded the Innovative Crisis Solutions Award during the fourth cycle of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award. The foundation was honoured for its SkyHydrant Emergency Safe Water Solution, a rapid-response water treatment system providing potable water in humanitarian crises and disaster zones.

Supervised by the UAE Water Aid Foundation (Suqia UAE), under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, the award carries a total prize pool of USD 1 million and supports breakthrough technologies that address global water challenges through sustainability and resilience.

The GEM Rapid Response Pack, SkyHydrant’s flagship emergency solution, can deliver up to 10,000 litres of safe drinking water per day using passive ultrafiltration. Requiring no power, chemicals or technical expertise, the system can be assembled on-site within two to three hours for rapid global deployment. Its patented “Shake ’n Flush” cleaning system ensures a lifecycle of up to four years.

Used by over 25 NGOs and deployed in 74 countries, SkyHydrant units have supported disaster-affected populations in places such as Turkey, Ukraine, Haiti, Lebanon, the Philippines and Myanmar. Designed for displaced communities of 500 to 1,000 people, the system treats water from non-saline sources like rivers, streams and swamps, effectively removing bacteria, viruses, turbidity, algae and coliforms.

With capital costs between USD 1,500 and USD 3,000, the system offers a highly cost-effective solution, often less than 50 cents per person annually based on a daily consumption of 50 litres. Maintenance involves basic monthly membrane cleaning, and the entire unit can be redeployed as needed in other emergency settings.

“What we need are decentralised, low-cost, sustainable solutions based on nature and embracing biomimicry that are distributed to poor communities so they can own and operate them. The sooner we can provide everybody with safe drinking water – whether they be refugees, displaced people or people in developing countries – the closer we move towards better equality throughout the world. Receiving this award is a great accolade for all the people that work within the foundation. It validates the meaningfulness of our work, highlights that it is appreciated and also helps to introduce us to other partners,” said Rhett Butler, Chairman and Founder of SkyJuice Foundation.