Archive News

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.

March 27, 2018Rubber ducks and crocodiles have always been popular bathtime companions. An Eawag study has now revealed the “dark side” of flexible plastic bath toys. Diverse microbial growth is promoted not only by the plastic materials but by bath users themselves.

March 19, 2018“A rolling stone gathers no moss.” This is the saying credited with giving the famous British rock band its name…but does it hold true from an ecological or hydraulic engineering perspective? 

March 13, 2018The Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry (EAG) have awarded Janet Hering, Director of Eawag and Professor in Environmental Biogeochemistry at ETH Zurich and Environmental Chemistry at EPFL, the title of Geochemical Fellow.

March 8, 2018Eawag scientist Lenny Winkel was appointed as Associate Professor of Environmental Inorganic Geochemistry by the ETH board. Lenny Winkel leads the group Environmental Inorganic Geochemistry within the Department Water Resources and Drinking Water and is until today Assistant Professor at ETH Zurich.

March 7, 2018In 2017, 68 cities (mostly in Europe) again took part in a large-scale project measuring drug levels in wastewater. The results for 2017 were published today by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). 

March 5, 2018River networks are dendritic and have a physical direction. The influence of these spatial preconditions on the dispersal of species and the dynamics within metacommunities has been the focus of research for a number of years. 

February 22, 2018The earth’s water supply is changing because of global warming: the ratio of precipitation to evaporation is sinking, and additional arid zones may emerge. The speed at which this development is likely to take place has been analysed by an international team including Eawag researchers.