Last changed: 12.05.2022Wastewater treatment plants (WTP) place a greater burden on the climate than was previously thought. They generate greenhouse gases at various processing stages and, in total, account for over one per
Last changed: 12.05.2022Biodiversity is being increasingly talked about in the media and in public. But are these words also followed by deeds? Is there a biodiversity policy that takes the complexity of the issue into accou
Last changed: 12.05.2022Biodiversity is now declining at a rate unprecedented in human history, from the local to the global level, threatening not least human well-being. Rapid action is needed, which in turn requires a goo
Last changed: 12.05.2022Lake Constance on the border between Germany, Austria and Switzerland is one of the largest lakes on the edge of the Alps and is an essential drinking water reservoir and ecosystem, important for tour
Last changed: 12.05.2022Floods such as those that made headlines again this summer are not only drastic for people living along the affected rivers but also for aquatic organisms. They can be displaced, injured, or even kill
Last changed: 12.05.2022In professional circles, there is talk of a toilet revolution. What exactly is going on here? It is not only about the toilet itself, but also highly about the treatment of excreta. Nowadays, they are
Last changed: 12.05.2022What do our toilets have to do with global challenges such as climate change? Climate change – particularly fast, worldwide population growth – poses significant global challenges for us. These challe
Last changed: 12.05.2022Climate models all point to an increase in the duration and intensity of heatwaves and dry spells in Switzerland. Also likely to increase, however, are intense rainfall events, creating major problems
Last changed: 12.05.2022The issue of invasive species is one of the main factors contributing to the loss of species diversity in ecosystems around the world. One such invasive species that is currently proliferating in Swis
Last changed: 12.05.2022Studies on the temporal development of insects in Switzerland and worldwide often conclude that their biodiversity has declined drastically. These results are particularly worrying for terrestrial ins
Last changed: 12.05.2022Groundwater serves as drinking water for around half of the world’s population and provides water for over 40 percent of the world’s agriculture. So, there is no question that groundwater research pla
Last changed: 12.05.2022Mr Moeck, 22 March is World Water Day and this year the motto is “Our groundwater, the invisible treasure”. What does this mean for you as a hydrogeologist and groundwater researcher? It is good that
Last changed: 12.05.2022Ciliates and rotifers are the ‘cleaners’ in sewage treatment plants. That is the result of a study by Jule Freudenthal and Kenneth Dumack from the University of Cologne’s Institute of Zoology, togethe
Last changed: 12.05.2022The population of Geneva has just voted in favour of the expansion of the heating network by almost 80%. The use of Lake Geneva as a heat reservoir is central to this. There are also expansion project
Last changed: 12.05.2022The carefully labelled paper bags look fairly plain, but they are actually a piece of luck for research. They contain historical scale samples, collected on a regular basis from all Lake Constance whi
Last changed: 12.05.2022Symbiotic relationships are not as rare as we sometimes think. Symbiosis is widespread in nature, for example in aphids. This refers to the close coexistence of two species that partially benefit from
Last changed: 12.05.2022Eawag avoids animal testing wherever possible, and the Institute is also heavily involved in the development of methods that will eventually make animal experiments obsolete. A team of researchers led
Last changed: 12.05.2022Antibiotic resistance is an emerging threat to public health, and now a leading cause of death worldwide , killing close to five million people in 2019. Due partly to the overuse and abuse of antibiot
Last changed: 12.05.2022Around 30 million years ago, numerous mountain ranges began to form in south-eastern Europe as a result of the collision of the European, Adriatic and African tectonic plates. Where these consisted of
Last changed: 12.05.2022Shallow lakes can remain clear and dominated by macrophytes (rooted aquatic plants) for years despite increasing nutrient inputs, but then suddenly, lose their macrophytes and become turbid. This coll
Last changed: 12.05.2022The desire for freedom and self-determination is deeply rooted in our Western culture. Regulations, prohibitions and even recommendations therefore frequently induce defiant reactions. Some people may
Last changed: 12.05.2022"When I came to Eawag in 2019, I didn't do anything much at first other than to try to get RNA into fish cells," says Marina Zoppo, a postdoctoral researcher at the aquatic research institute Eawag. R
Last changed: 12.05.2022Every day, a large number of synthetic chemicals enter streams, lakes and sometimes even drinking water via various pathways. The Eawag Water Research Institute wants to find out what the long-term co
Last changed: 12.05.2022How can decisions about sanitation in emergency and humanitarian crisis situations be made? Based on the Compendium of Sanitation Technologies in Emergencies, Eawag-Sandec, SuSanA and the Global WASH
Last changed: 12.05.2022Waste water is not simply dirty water to be disposed of as expediently as possible. “It is replete with useful resources,” says Bruno Hadengue, “and so waste water treatment plants are expected to bec
Last changed: 12.05.2022What courses does the PEAK programme offer? Isabelle Schläppi: In 2020, nine training courses were planned, including three in French-speaking Switzerland. Our selection of topics is guided by new ord
Last changed: 12.05.2022Chlorine is deadly for many microorganisms and is therefore used to disinfect drinking water. But what does chlorinated water do to the intestinal flora of young children, which yet has to develop? An
Last changed: 12.05.2022“I would never have thought that this species would be so widespread,” states Rosetta Blackman, a postdoctoral researcher at the aquatic research institute Eawag. She is referring to the peach blossom
Last changed: 12.05.2022Naturally, water levels of rivers and streams are variable and fluctuate between drier and wetter periods. Spring snowmelt and the timing and location of rainfall events often drive these fluctuations
Last changed: 12.05.2022Have you ever tried pressing the button at a pedestrian crossing with your elbow? Tricky, isn’t it? Two studies co-authored by Eawag scientists have now shown that we should not be too concerned about
Last changed: 31.05.2022Worldwide, the demand for fertiliser for agriculture is increasing. This makes the recovery of nutrients from wastewater interesting. Switzerland, for example, is completely dependent on imports for p
Last changed: 31.05.2022“Resources from the bowl are the key” (in German: "Ressourcen aus der Schüssel sind der Schlüssel") is the title of a discussion paper that Sabine Hoffmann, Lisa Deutsch and Kai Udert developed togeth
Last changed: 31.05.2022Oliver Schilling spends most of his working time at the University of Basel, where he has been gathering his research group around him as a new assistant professor of hydrogeology since the beginning
Last changed: 31.05.2022Andrin Krähenbühl has been fishing since childhood. He studied biology at the University of Bern – strongly connected to water and to Eawag. Because he really wanted to work with water one day. For hi
Last changed: 31.05.2022Nathalie Dubois’ research focuses on lake sediments in Switzerland and around the world. With her group, she analyses layer by layer the sediments deposited in lakes and uses them to reconstruct past
Last changed: 31.05.2022Data provides a central basis for scientific work. In the process, the possibilities for obtaining data are rapidly increasing, as is the spatial and temporal resolution of this data. This wealth of d
Last changed: 03.06.2022"Innovations from the ETH Domain: Insights into research in the service of Switzerland." Under this motto, the ETH Domain welcomed Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin and around sixty other high-ranking g
Last changed: 24.05.2022Under the supervision of Kristin Schirmer and Barbara Jozef, Frank has developed a protocol in his work at Eawag to be able to carry out and analyse a "high-throughput" in vitro test with fish cells.
Last changed: 22.06.2022You took over the function as Eawag’s Environmental representative at the beginning of 2021 – in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. As arduous as the enforced standstill has been for all of us, t
Last changed: 23.06.2022The comic reportage “Researching with faeces” is one of a total of four contributions by Celine Künzle for the current issue of the comic magazine Strapazin. In all the articles, she portrays persons
Last changed: 27.06.2022The oceans are teeming with countless forms of life, from the world’s largest creature – the blue whale – to miniscule microorganisms. In addition to their vast numbers, these microorganisms are also
Last changed: 27.06.2022When thermometers in California recorded scorching temperatures in the summer of 2000, even the salmon in Klamath River felt the effects. The temperature of the water drove them to gather in unusually
Last changed: 29.06.2022Peter Reichert says: “I am fascinated by using mathematical methods to contribute to understanding environmental systems and to support their management.” When he came to Eawag in April 1985, after co
Last changed: 29.06.2022On a perfect summer evening, the boat “Stadt Uster” set sail last Friday. While the passengers were sipping their aperitifs, the boat headed first for the Eawag research platform anchored off the smal
Last changed: 01.07.2022It’s a hot topic, at least on social media: tiny plastic particles allegedly end up not only in oceans and lakes, but also in drinking water – and, yes, even in bottled mineral water. Eawag and the Zu
Last changed: 04.07.2022Karin Ingold, group leader at Eawag, professor at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Bern and vice president of the Oeschger Center for Climate Research, has been involved in the
Last changed: 05.07.2022When fish ingest microplastics, they often also ingest progesterone. This compound is subsequently released into the digestive tract through chemical reactions with the fish’s digestive fluids. That’s
Last changed: 07.07.2022“In the laboratory, you have very controlled conditions, but the results cannot always be transferred 1:1 to the outside world because our world is much more complex,” explains Christoph Walcher from
Last changed: 13.07.2022It covers water governance issues such as flood protection and fisheries, as well as overarching concepts like integrated water management and social-ecological interactions.