News archive

For three months, an extended family in South Africa tested the standalone Autarky toilet cubicle. Everyone was very happy with the quiet hideout.

Legionella in drinking water systems can pose a health risk. But the complexity of the stagnation issue means that a much more nuanced approach is required to manage this risk than has previously been supposed.

The Ecotox Centre presents a new strategy to assess the quality of sediments. Sediments are of great significance in water protection.

Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) treatment of organic waste offers a sustainable and economic solution to the need for organic waste management in Indonesia.

Each year, around 130 kilograms of mercury flow into Swiss wastewater treatment plants, which filter out the lion’s share from the waste water. This is shown by a survey of almost thirty wastewater treatment plants conducted by the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) and the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN).

Europe still has barely any downstream passage facilities that guide fish past the turbines of run-of-river power stations unharmed. Now, an interdisciplinary team of engineers from ETH Zurich and fish biologists from Eawag have developed a rack that uses pressure and flow differences to guide fish out of the main flow and into the safe fish passage. Laboratory tests have shown that the system, which works by influencing fish behaviour, is particularly effective for cyprinid fish and salmon parr.

The ETH Zurich appoints biologist Kristin Schirmer, head of the Environmental Toxicology department of Eawag, as titular professor.

The ETH-Board appoints Carsten Schubert as a new member of the Directorate of Eawag, the aquatic research institute.

Matthew Moy de Vitry has been awarded the ETH Zurich Otto Jaag Water Protection Prize for his doctoral thesis “Public surveillance and the future of urban pluvial flood modelling”.

The mobile and automated MS2field mass spectrometer allows measurements to be taken of harmful substances in surface waters with high temporal resolution. The initial measurements using the device are revealing the extent to which peak concentrations of pesticides, for example, have been underestimated by traditional methods.