Archive News

March 30, 2026The sanitation objective of Sustainable Development Goal 6, sanitation for all, is off-track and far from being completed by 2030. Vermifiltration could help address this gap: The nature-based sanitation management system shows increasing promise globally because of its low cost. Researchers at Eawag’s Sandec department visited vermifilter installations in India and Switzerland to examine how local differences influence their optimal design.

March 19, 2026Since 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).

March 12, 2026Can urban drainage system serve as a proxy for disease surveillance? Eawag and partners in Uganda explore a new approach to public health surveillance.

February 19, 2026The Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) has been newly commissioned by the Federal Office of Public Health as the National Reference Centre for Wastewater Monitoring. This work centres around the collection of health data from municipal wastewater, and particularly that of viruses that are known to be pathogenic. A new national mandate has also been introduced for the analysis of substances related to pharmaceutical and illicit drug use.

January 26, 2026Sociologist and political scientist Lisa Deutsch was awarded the ETH Medal for her doctoral thesis written at Eawag and ETH Zurich. Her research demonstrated how interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research can be successful and how theory and practice can be effectively combined in research.

January 12, 2026A new study provides precise data on the origin of plastic in the sea. It could be key to reducing this pollution in a targeted way.

January 6, 2026For years, Eawag has been committed to ensuring that its research findings are "open access" – in other words, accessible free of charge. Within the Swiss higher education landscape, its proportion of scientific publications that are open access is therefore among the highest. 

December 8, 2025A global shift to agriculture with no or fewer pesticides would have long-term ecological and economic benefits, according to a new study.

November 28, 2025James Runnalls, software engineer at the aquatic research institute Eawag, receives the National Prize for Open Research Data (ORD) for developing the interactive online platform alplakes for monitoring and forecasting alpine lakes.

October 1, 2025The Lake Lucerne Supervisory Commission is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Last Friday, 26 September, invited guests, including government councillors from the five cantons bordering the lake, met with Federal Councillor Albert Rösti at Eawag in Kastanienbaum.