News Portal

May 9, 2022Oliver Schilling is newly appointed Professor of Hydrogeology at the University of Basel, where he is setting up a research group that is also associated with the Eawag Water Resources and Drinking Water Department in Dübendorf. This dual affiliation is perfect, says Schilling.

May 5, 2022Eawag researchers Sabine Hoffmann, Kai Udert and Lisa Deutsch are committed to a sanitation and nutrient transformation. They use an example to explain why a transformation is needed and why collaboration with politicians in particular is a challenge.

May 4, 2022What has been a purification process in wastewater treatment plants for decades can also be used decentrally or semi-centrally as a recycling process for nutrients. Early separation of "solid and liquid" plays a key role here. It allows for flexible solutions in terms of process technology, especially in the treatment of urine. New studies also show that the processes can be used not only for human urine, but also for that of cows or pigs.

May 2, 2022Ozonation is an established treatment process to remove micropollutants from wastewater. However, since unstable toxic reaction products can be formed in the process, biological post-treatment is necessary. Results from the Ecotox Centre and Eawag show how well different post-treatment methods reduce ecotoxicological effects. The combination of ozonation and activated carbon proved to be the most effective.

April 26, 2022Eawag researchers are using computer algorithms to predict the toxicity of chemicals to fish. Machine learning can help set priorities for experiments and, in the longer term, enable a tremendous reduction of animal testing.

April 20, 2022What is the best way to replace an old wastewater treatment plant? Which early warning system is most successful in protecting against flooding? Thanks to a method developed by Eawag, experts can analyse complex decision-making problems in a simple way.

April 14, 2022Chlorination of drinking water reduces infections – and it changes the composition of the intestinal flora of young children, as a study published today in “Nature Microbiology” shows. The results indicate that the diversity of the intestinal flora isn’t reduced and bacteria associated with gut health are increased.

April 12, 2022Eawag is taking its experience with the treatment of faecal sludge in low-income countries and applying this know-how in Switzerland. The aim is to develop solutions that allow wastewater to be used as a source of energy and nutrients.

April 11, 2022Monitoring freshwater ecosystems by means of environmental DNA methods offers new opportunities for detecting invasive species. An Eawag study has shown that an invasive jellyfish is more widespread in Switzerland than previously thought.

April 8, 2022The Wings Research Programme explores alternative, decentralised sewage systems and brings actors from the areas of research, politics, authorities, urban planning, and engineering and architectural firms together.  The objective is to promote innovations in the water sector and find ways to create a sustainable and flexible future for wastewater.

April 7, 2022A new study has shown how fish influence oceans’ ecosystems in coastal regions, revealing for the first time the role they play in distributing heat, nutrients and oxygen that keep the system functioning.

April 7, 2022With the support of Eawag, experts from the VSA platform "Process Engineering for Micropollutants" investigated the inputs of substances from industry and commerce into waterbodies. The nationwide analysis shows that treated wastewater from businesses also contains micropollutants that enter waterbodies.

March 29, 2022Artificial floods mimick natural flows to mobilise and transport sediment downstream, reshape the river and reinstate important habitats for native aquatic insects and fish. Improved outcomes can occur when these artificial floods converge with natural flows and sediment delivery from unregulated tributary streams further down the valley.

March 24, 2022New research findings, and a resulting fact sheet, provide insights into the problematic spread of the invasive quagga mussel in Switzerland. The authors of the fact sheet are concerned that the aggressive spread of this mussel species will have a substantial detrimental effect on lake ecosystems.

March 23, 2022Among aquatic insects in Swiss streams, those species that like it warm and can cope well with pesticide exposure are on the rise. This is shown by a joint study by WSL and Eawag using data from biodiversity monitoring between 2010 and 2019. The results indicate a possible influence of climate change.

March 22, 2022For World Water Day 2022, the United Nations is focusing on our groundwater – an invisible treasure that it wants to bring into the social and political spotlight. For Eawag, groundwater as a resource has long been one of its most important research priorities. An overview.

March 18, 2022What is the state of groundwater in Switzerland? On World Water Day, we discussed this with hydrogeologist Christian Moeck, who, as an employee of the Eawag Hydrogeology Research Group, deals with the pressing challenges surrounding groundwater and researches how groundwater can be protected as a resource.

March 17, 2022The ETH Board had the six institutions of the ETH Domain check whether women and men are paid the same for the same work.

March 7, 2022Researchers decipher how the microbial inhabitants of sewage treatment plants help eliminate intestinal parasites / Article published in ‘Microbiome’.

March 1, 2022The ETH Board as well as the six institutions of the ETH Domain* reaffirm their full solidarity with the universities in Ukraine and join the Federal Council in its statement strongly condemning Russia’s military invasion.

March 1, 2022The use of lake and river water to generate heat and cold is constantly increasing. The potential is enormous. Nevertheless, negative impacts on aquatic ecosystems must be avoided. A fact sheet from Eawag lists the key points in this regard.

February 25, 2022The European Geochemical Association (EAG) has presented Lenny Winkel, associate professor of Inorganic Environmental Geochemistry at the aquatic research institute Eawag and ETH Zürich, with the 2022 Science Innovation Award and honoured her with the title of Geochemistry Fellow. The award recognizes scientists who have recently made an important and innovative breakthrough in geochemistry.

February 24, 2022Nearly a hundred year old tissue samples from Lake Constance have enabled Eawag researchers to compare genetic material of an extinct whitefish species with that of extant co-occurring species. Their investigation showed that fragments of the genome of the extinct species have survived in today’s species. This could potentially facilitate the recolonization of the currently not occupied deep-water habitat.

February 17, 2022Often overlooked until now: symbioses could be a driving force for the emergence of biodiversity. A case where bacteria live in aphids shows that this can even have practical implications for biological pest control.

February 15, 2022The buffet of healthy insects starts earlier, is no longer as varied, and is only half as plentiful as it once was. This is the situation faced by insectivorous birds at Northern Temperate latitudes, such as Switzerland, during the breeding season. Ryan Shipley from the Eawag water research institute, has been investigating how climate change affects the timing and quality of the food supply for breeding birds.

February 11, 2022To mark today’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science, female researchers at Eawag talk about their experiences and motivation in short videos.

February 10, 2022Eawag researchers have won a competition organised by Britain’s National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3R). The prize money is awarded for use in research to develop technologies to replace animal testing.

February 9, 2022Wastewater treatment plants are ‘hotspots’ for antibiotic resistance genes and bacteria but sewer overflows exacerbate the problem by disseminating them into rivers. Researchers at Eawag suggest ways to minimise these effects.

February 8, 2022Mining can have serious consequences for nature and the health of the population in countries of the Global South, where environmental laws are often only inconsistently implemented. In Hwange, in western Zimbabwe, people have been fighting water pollution from coal mining for years. But they were powerless against the operators – until doctoral student Désirée Ruppen launched a citizen science project in 2018.

February 7, 2022The newly created Swiss Groundwater Network, CH-GNet for short, has now launched its online presence. A big step for Eawag’s new exchange, information and networking platform.

February 4, 2022Those who have just undergone surgery in the hospital, with their weakened immune systems, are easy prey for pathogens that lurk on a wide variety of surfaces. Even careful disinfection can only partially prevent these hospital-acquired infections. One hope in the fight against the pathogenic bacteria are bacteriophages. Eawag researchers were able to show that they improve the removal of pathogens from surfaces, especially in combination with chemical disinfection.

February 1, 2022Scientists from 48 countries initiated the “European Reference Genome Atlas” at the start of 2021. Within this project, around 600 researchers aim to decode the genetic repertoire of all species of the continent by generating reference genomes for the roughly 200,000 eukaryotic species. The hope is to strengthen the foundations for conservation of biodiversity.