Archive News

May 9, 2018Lake Victoria in East Africa is known for its vast biodiversity. But according to a report published recently by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), to which Eawag also contributed, many species of fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants are currently at risk.

May 2, 2018How can we reduce inputs of plant protection products from agricultural areas into streams and rivers? Experts working in agricultural and surface-water research have undertaken a qualitative evaluation of the effectiveness and practicability of various measures.

April 30, 2018There is a wealth of energy and nutrients in wastewater. New processes enable the recovery of these resources from wastewater and sewage sludge, with the goal of redefining the function of the wastewater-treatment plants. Formerly energy users, they will become energy producers and the source of valuable fertilizer. This new technology has convinced the Swiss Climate Cent Foundation. It is contributing financial support to the construction of the new installation in the ARA Altenrhein.

April 27, 2018This April, Sandec and its partners hosted two national workshops on small-scale sanitation – one in New Delhi, India and one in Kathmandu, Nepal. The aim of the workshops was to discuss the results of two years of field research with participants from government, utilities, academia, donors, the private sector and NGOs.

April 25, 2018Researchers of the Eawag department Sanitation, Water and Solid Waste for Development (Sandec) and ETH Zurich are developing a method to produce animal feed from biowaste products. This is one of 14 projects in the Engineering for Development programme funded by the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development over the past decade and entering its next 5-year cycle.

April 20, 2018Amphipods play a key role in freshwater ecosystems. In her doctoral research at Eawag, biologist Chelsea Little discovered that invasive amphipod species consume much less leaf litter than native species.

April 16, 2018What is the contribution of upstream areas to micropollutant loads in the Rhine at Basel and Düsseldorf? How effectively do authorities and water suppliers collaborate on management and regulation across national boundaries? An interdisciplinary approach developed by Eawag scientists can help to identify deficiencies.

April 10, 2018Faced with polluted river water, rural communities or aid agencies often drill groundwater wells to obtain water supplies. But data collected systematically for the first time in the Amazon basin show that this “solution” can create new problems: the groundwater may contain elevated concentrations of arsenic, manganese and aluminium – up to 70 times over the recommended limit in the case of arsenic, and up to 15 times for manganese.

April 5, 2018Financial support and the further increase in hydroelectric power, negative effects of plant protection agents and the destruction of aquatic environments were the major themes in Swiss water policy in the year 2017.

April 4, 2018Monitoring the effects of chemicals on environmental systems with many species has always been a challenge. On behalf of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), Eawag and the Ecotox Centre-EPFL investigated how the regulation of genes in fish and in single fish cells allow scientists to deduce water quality and fish health.