Stockholm, Aug 20 - India's Bindeshwar Pathak, the founder of the Sulabh sanitation movement, was Thursday awarded the Stockholm Water Prize, the most prestigious environmental recognition that has become akin to a Nobel Prize for environmental issues.

'Sanitation is humanity's and the world's most urgent and critical crisis of our times,' Bindeshwar Pathak told IANS here Thursday, and on a more optimistic note said, 'However, it is not yet an unsolvable crisis but a huge challenge. It will require massive, dedicated and selfless labour to achieve the goal.'

Pathak received the award from Prince Carl Philip of Sweden.