From left: Weng Jie, Xiao Yi and Wang Hao from Shanghai Nanyang Model High School pose for a group picture after winning the international Stockholm Junior Water Prize on Tuesday night for their invention of an innovative river-cleaning project.

Three local high school students won the international Stockholm Junior Water Prize on Tuesday night in Swedish capital for their invention of an innovative river-cleaning project.

The news was published on the official Website of The World Water Week in Stockholm - an international activity held every August around the theme of water-related environmental science.

It is the first time that Chinese students have won the honor.

Wang Hao, Xiao Yi and Weng Jie - students from Shanghai Nanyang Model High School - were presented the US$5,000 award by Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden.

The trio's cost-effective ecological management program, research for which began in 2004, is based on various self-invented hydraulic tools.

Last year, the program was used to eliminate pollution from a river near their school.

Sri Lankan and Japanese students came in second and third, among participants from over 20 countries.