The latest news from Eawag

Access to safe drinking water, as defined by the SDGs, modestly protects children from diarrheal diseases. An Eawag study shows which service elements matter most.

Together with SwissCore and the Mission of Switzerland to the EU, Eawag co-hosted the Swiss Science Briefing “Eyes on Water: Space, Science and Resilience to Water” to discuss the central topic of water and water resilience with European partners.

The Federal Council reappoints Martin Ackermann as Eawag director for another term.

A guide helps project leaders restore wetland forests to promote biodiversity and combat climate change.

The Beyond Communication symposium held on 5 May at Eawag demonstrated how art and science challenge and enrich one another, and how they work together to develop new questions – providing impetus for dialogue between research, society and politics.

From a very young age, Astrid Stubbusch wanted to thoroughly explore life in all its forms. In her thesis she showed the astounding strategies that bacteria develop to find food. She has now been awarded the Prix Schläfli for Biology for this work.

Nearly six in ten native European freshwater fish species are now of elevated conservation concern. This is revealed in the Red List published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Artificial groundwater recharge is one way of preparing for increasingly frequent dry spells. The length of time the water spends in the ground between infiltration and extraction is crucial to its quality. A study shows that environmental tracers, which enter rivers via the cooling water from nuclear power stations, can be used to determine this residence time.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the world came to a standstill – and many lakes became measurably clearer. A global study shows that lockdowns caused water turbidity in lakes worldwide to drop sharply, particularly in lakeshore regions and river mouths, as a result of reduced industry, traffic and leisure activities. 

Since 1992, the United Nations has designated 22 March as World Water Day. In 2026, the theme will be "Water and Gender". What does water have to do with gender equality? And why does access to water determine education, dignity and power? We discuss this with Jessica MacArthur, knowledge broker in Eawag's Research Department for Sanitation and Water for Development (Sandec).

Using isotope markers to break down food webs and track changes in them, as well as tracing the pathways and accumulation of pollutants in aquatic organisms – the Otto Jaag Water Protection Prize was awarded in 2025 for two exciting and highly topical doctoral theses.

Can urban drainage system serve as a proxy for disease surveillance? Eawag and partners in Uganda explore a new approach to public health surveillance.

The ETH Board has appointed Serina Robinson as Assistant Professor of Environmental Biochemistry. The scientist heads a research group in the Environmental Microbiology Department at Eawag.

An Eawag study at 10 WWTPs that use sludge densification shows that the process could improve capacity as well as nitrogen removal.