Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of the Sulabh Sanitation Movement in India, has been named the 2009 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate. As the Founder of the Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, Pathak is known around the world for his wide ranging work in the field of sanitation, improving public health, advancing social progress and promoting human rights in India and other countries. His accomplishments span the fields of sanitation technology, social enterprise, and healthcare education for millions of people in his native country, serving as a model for NGO agencies and public health initiatives around the world.

Since he established the Sulabh Sanitation Movement in 1970, he has worked to change social attitudes toward traditional unsanitary latrine practices in slums, rural villages and dense urban districts, and developed cost effective toilet systems that have improved the lives and health of millions of people.

He has also waged an ongoing campaign to abolish the traditional practice of manual 'scavenging' of human waste from bucket latrines in India, while championing the rights of former scavengers and their families to economic opportunity, decent standards of living and social dignity.

The nominating committee has said: 'The results of Bindeshwar Pathak's endeavors constitute one of the most amazing examples of how one person can impact the well being of millions.  His leadership in attaining these remarkable socio-environmental results has been universally recognised, and not least by those who have secured the freedom of human dignity as a consequence of his efforts.'

Bindeshwar Pathak will receive the 2009 Stockholm Water Prize at an award ceremony in Stockholm City Hall during World Water Week in August.