The Prince Sultan Center for Environment, Water and Desert Studies incorporates the General Secretariat of the Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz International Prize for Water. The initiator of the award, His Royal Highness Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Defence and Aviation and Inspector General, announced the commencement of the acceptance of nominations for it on 15 Shaban A.H. 1423, corresponding to 21 October 2002.
The Prize is a periodic international scientific award, bestowed every two years, as a mark of appreciation for the efforts and research studies carried out by scientists and scientific and applied organizations in the sector of water studies worldwide. It is granted in appreciation of their outstanding achievements which have contributed to the discovery of scientific solutions to the problems of provision of usable water, overcoming its scarcity and assuring its continual availability, especially in arid regions.
The Prize comprises five branches, each of which consists of a monetary prize of 500,000 Saudi Riyals (approximately $133,000), financed by His Royal Highness Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz. Each branch is bestowed in recognition of an intellectual or material production, whether of individuals or institutions, which results in the advance of human knowledge, as well as raising the level of human awareness and control, in the following areas:
- surface water
- subterranean water
- alternative (unconventional) water resources
- control of water resources
- preservation of water resources
