Water Research
Water
Water is supposed to be clean and safe besides being available to billions of people around the globe. The natural resources of water are being used more and more intensively, which is why a sustainable and global water cycle is one of the greatest social challenges of our time.
The University of Duisburg-Essen has therefore established water research as key research area. Headed by the Centre for Water and Environmental Research (ZWU), 220 water experts from 29 departments of the faculties of natural, engineering and social sciences as well as medicine address growing water challenges together with colleagues from the UA Ruhr, research facilities and external partners. The main focus is on access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation for everyone and on a sustainable management of water resources.
Clean water and sanitation
One of the greatest social challenges for the 21st century is to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for everyone, especially in view of the implications for climate change-induced water scarcity and rising levels of water pollution. This includes supplying a rapidly growing world population with clean drinking water as well as providing sanitary facilities and infrastructures for collecting and treating waste water (UN Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation).
Coordination of the key research area
The key research area coordinated by the Centre for Water and Environmental Research (ZWU) addresses these challenges with its main research areas: water quality, biodiversity and the urban water cycle. The ZWU can draw on the experience of the vast network of its members from academic partners of the University of Duisburg-Essen from faculties of natural, engineering and social sciences as well as medicine (29 chairs from 5 faculties) and other regional research facilities as well as external partners such as the major regional water associations and water suppliers.
The broad area of expertise within the field of aquatic ecology, biodiversity, algae research, environmental toxicology and chemistry, drinking water treatment and supply, hydrogeology, water and urban water management, hydrology, hydraulic engineering, water resource management and legal & economic expertise on water governance enables the ZWU to develop innovative system solutions through interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research illustrated by former major joint projects. In the near future, water research at the University of Duisburg-Essen will be located in the new FutureWaterCampus research building.