Water: quality and security

22 March is United Nations World Water Day, so this episode of CORDIScovery is on water: its quality and security of supply. We will travel from the high Himalayas and delve into the secret lives of freshwater snails to explore water cycles and the latest techniques for monitoring pollution.

Climate Change and Environment

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Insights and ideas

What can new technology tell us about the impact of climate change on the water cycle of the Himalayas, and what are the impacts through the vast areas that depend on the run-off?

What can new approaches in farming in China teach us, and how do we make agriculture ‘climate smart’. Is precision farming the key? And if so, how can we make that work?
There are more of us living in cities and greater demands being placed on water supplies. A fast, accurate and simple way to check levels of pollution in wastewater is to be welcomed. Ecotoxicology is a fast-growing field, so what can freshwater snails, leeches and shrimps tell us about the levels of micropollutants in water?

Our three guests, whose work has been supported by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, have some answers:

Walter Immerzeel, professor of Mountain Hydrology at Utrecht University, led the CAT project, which looked at the interface between climate change, glaciology and hydrology.

Research scientist at the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture of the Spanish National Research Council, José Gomez, combines a background in agronomy and soil science. He helped coordinate the SHui project, which bridged the gap between research findings and on-the-ground innovations in China and Europe.

Didier Neuzeret is the CEO of ViewPoint, a French company that has been involved in environmental research and animal behaviour analysis for 30 years. ViewPoint hosted the ToxMate project, which video-tracked the behaviours of certain invertebrates, known as bio monitoring, to check pollution levels in wastewater.

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Keywords

CORDIScovery, CORDIS, CAT, SHui, ToxMate, water, United Nations World Water Day, water, security, water supplies, pollution, climate change, Himalayas, precision farming, ecotoxicology