Department Urban Water Management

Urban Water Management

We aim to optimize the development and management of the urban water system using process-focused measurement techniques, targeted experiments, and innovative modeling methods. Using a systems approach, we bring together a range of aspects that are intertwined with the urban drainage network. Read more

Urban Water Observatory

The Urban Water Observatory (UWO) is a long-term initiative of ETH and Eawag to establish a sensor network in Fehraltorf, allowing spatially-distributed monitoring of urban water cycle processes.  Read more

Eawag-Empa Blue-Green Campus Lab

The Eawag-Empa Blue-Green Campus lab is a research initiative to investigate climate adaptation solutions and foster collaboration between Eawag and Empa. Read more

News

August 27, 2025 –

The water research institute Eawag and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland are part of the new EU project UrbanM2O. It is led by the Danish Technical University DTU in Copenhagen. The aim of the...

The water research institute Eawag and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland are part of the new EU project UrbanM2O. It is led by the Danish Technical University DTU in Copenhagen. The aim of the six-million-euro project is to develop monitoring and modelling-based solutions to combat water pollution in cities – an issue that is becoming increasingly important with the expansion of sponge cities.

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July 17, 2025 –

Wastewater monitoring became well known during the coronavirus period from 2020, when Eawag and its partners began monitoring whether and which coronaviruses could be detected in wastewater throughout Switzerland. However, the...

Wastewater monitoring became well known during the coronavirus period from 2020, when Eawag and its partners began monitoring whether and which coronaviruses could be detected in wastewater throughout Switzerland. However, the researchers are now able to make far more statements about the health of the population because other pathogens and traces of medicines and drugs are also being monitored in parallel. The combination of data from both programmes opens up new perspectives.

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December 17, 2024 –

Today, over 60 experts from research, federal and cantonal administration, the police, politics and hospitals are meeting to discuss the current status and future of wastewater monitoring in Switzerland. The current trends: a...

Today, over 60 experts from research, federal and cantonal administration, the police, politics and hospitals are meeting to discuss the current status and future of wastewater monitoring in Switzerland. The current trends: a seasonal increase for influenza and the RSV virus, stagnating or even declining for coronavirus. We spoke to environmental engineer Christoph Ort, who, together with environmental microbiologist Tim Julian, established the field of wastewater-based epidemiology at Eawag and - in cooperation with external experts - is constantly adapting it.

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Publications

Cook, L. M.; Good, K. D.; Moretti, M.; Kremer, P.; Wadzuk, B.; Traver, R.; Smith, V. (2024) Towards the intentional multifunctionality of urban green infrastructure: a paradox of choice?, npj Urban Sustainability, 4(1), 12 (13 pp.), doi:10.1038/s42949-024-00145-0, Institutional Repository
Duque, N.; Scholten, L.; Maurer, M. (2024) When does infrastructure hybridisation outperform centralised infrastructure paradigms? – Exploring economic and hydraulic impacts of decentralised urban wastewater system expansion, Water Research, 254, 121327 (13 pp.), doi:10.1016/j.watres.2024.121327, Institutional Repository
Lechevallier, P.; Villez, K.; Felsheim, C.; Rieckermann, J. (2024) Towards non-contact pollution monitoring in sewers with hyperspectral imaging, Environmental Science: Water Research and Technology, 10(5), 1160-1170, doi:10.1039/D3EW00541K, Institutional Repository
To the library

Nature’s Science in Shorts awards - Lucas Gobatti

"If we want to cool down our cities with vegetation, we need to start planting as soon as possible, because it takes time to get the full cooling benefits of urban greenery"

Paper "Using satellite imagery to investigate Blue-Green Infrastructure establishment time for urban cooling"

Events

20.10.​2025,
9.00 am
WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf
05. - 06.11.​2025,
9.00 am
Emmetten

VSA-PEAK-Wassertage

Research Projects

Application of Wastewater-based Epidemiology to SARS-CoV-2 Detection
Linking different projects within or across multiple ULLs through stakeholder interaction and information exchange
Quantifying the impact of different maintenance scenarios on BGI hydrological performance