Singapore honors Dutch scientist

SINGAPORE: Singapore said yesterday it would award nearly $200,000 to a Dutch scientist who pioneered an environmentally friendly, low-cost way of treating waste water and refused to patent the process.

Gatze Lettinga, an environmental engineer from Amsterdam, was chosen as this year's winner of the award, launched in 2008 and named after Singapore's founding father and former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, officials said.

Resource-starved Singapore, which is already recycling sewage into clean water for use in factories and homes, gives out the award to honor persons or groups for "outstanding contributions" in the field of water.