Eawag

During prolonged droughts, the drinking water supply for the affected population is critical. Water filters are of enormous importance in such emergencies to prevent diseases. However, often it is not the distribution of filters that is lacking, but the fact that they are not used consistently in everyday life. Researchers at the Aquatic Research Institute Eawag have analysed the reasons for this in Northern Kenya.

Timely analyses of the bacterial community in wastewater treatment plants enables changes to be detected and remedied before cleaning performance suffers.

The safety of insecticides is predominantly evaluated based on lethal effects on other animals. However, new findings from Eawag support the notion that also lower concentrations can be problematic, because they affect the nervous systems of fish and cause changes in their behaviour. This can indirectly affect the survival of fish populations and may be one of the reasons for the fish decline that we are observing in Switzerland.

Green spaces or trees can mitigate urban heat, but it takes time for the cooling effects to develop. Modelling using satellite data can show how much time is needed.

The number of microbes that acquire antibiotic resistance depends on the time at which the antibiotic is added. This is a conclusion reached by a research group at Eawag on the basis of experiments with genetically modified bacteria that glow in different colours when they exchange genetic information with each other.