SLU Water Forum celebrates the World Water Day

Below we present a selection of news about research on water at SLU, with a special focus on accelerating change and sanitation.

• SLU highlights knowledge on water and sanitation during the World Water Day
  Björn Vinnerås develops technologies to recycle plant nutrients from the city back to the agricultural fields in an efficient and safe way. We ask him three questions.
  
  

• New SLU-professor wants to know if we should be concerned about organic micropollutants in drinking water
  There are probably more than 100 000 organic micropollutants circulating in the aquatic environment. The newly appointed SLU professor in environmental organic chemistry, Lutz Ahrens, is dedicated to identifying new hazardous chemicals to ensure that our drinking water is safe for consumption.

• Is there poison in the drinking water?
  Alberto Celma and Svante Rehnstam from SLU are training to be able to answer this question. They participate in a project that has the goal of increasing the possibility of identifying unknown substances in drinking water quickly and accurately in times of crisis. Alberto and Svante's contribution is their knowledge on how to find unknown substances in water.
  
  
• Finds new contaminants of concern in Lake Mälaren
  Lake Mälaren is Sweden’s biggest drinking water source, and as such, it is important to monitor its water. We check the water for well-known environmental pollutants regularly. But what about all new chemicals?
  
  
• Knowledge exchange with African environmental monitoring
  The many advantages of monitoring and analysing changes in the environment are something we happily share, which is why researchers from SLU are becoming involved in knowledge exchange with African environmental monitoring. One specific activity within this realm is presentations from SLU professor Kevin Bishop and researcher Jens Olsson at a Congolese conference on biodiversity.

New funding for research at SLU related to water and accellerating change

• 117 million to water researchers at SLU from the national research councils
  Formas and the Swedish Research Council have made decisions about new projects that will be allocated research funds in the coming years. As many as 20 projects led by water researchers from SLU were granted funding in this year's calls for proposals. Eight of these went to young researchers early in their careers. A total of SEK 117 million was granted in support of SLU's water research.
  
  
• Strengtened research and teaching about water
  During 2022, the Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment at SLU, Swedish University of Agriculture, got four new docents. Consequently, the research and teaching at SLU in the freshwater area are now strengthened.
  
  
• New funding for water research
  During the autumn 2022, the Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, SLU has been delighted to receive news on the approval of several research grants that can increase our knowledge of water from several perspectives. The new research will teach us more about microbiology, greenhouse gases, browning, methane turnover, leachate, drinking water, and ecosystems.

Seminars

• Enabeling food and water security for all through circularity and collaboration
  SLU researcher Jennie Barron participates in this seminar addressing the challenges and obstacles as well as opportunities and innovative ways and means to support the implementation and acceleration of progress in water and sanitation management for sustainable food systems.
• The third internal water seminar at SLU
  SLU Water Forum has held its third internal water seminar. We have gathered researchers and given the opportunity to exchange ideas for an accellerated change. During the water seminar, we discussed water from all possible perspectives, water from source to sea, singing fish, water chemistry, bubbles ...