Water Quality Matters - An Interdisciplinary System Perspective Symposium
Pathways to Sustainability / Water Climate and Future Deltas
A main challenge for the coming decades is how to provide sufficient water of suitable quality for society and ecosystems. Currently only a small percentage of the waters in the Netherlands meet the water quality objectives in line with the European Water Framework Directive (WFD), and many other countries across the world are facing challenges due to water quality issues. Water pollution challenges are prevalent in low-, middle-, and high-income countries but differ with respect to different types of pollutants. Climate change and increases in hydroclimatic extremes (e.g. droughts, rainstorms, floods) challenge water resources management in terms of both water quantity and water quality. At the same time, a growing population requires more water of suitable quality (e.g. for drinking water, food, energy, industrial production), and this increases the gap between supply and demand for clean water.
This symposium sheds light on water quality issues across the world and provides a broad water quality perspective and focuses on key challenges that we are facing nowadays of providing sufficient water of suitable quality for human use and ecosystems. It contributes to providing an overview of the water quality expertise that exists at different faculties of Utrecht University and to discussing how we can combine our expertise to strengthen our impact on water quality management and decision-making.
The symposium is open to scientists and stakeholders from various disciplines to discuss pressing water quality challenges from both scientific and policy perspectives.
Organizers:
- Prof. Dr. Michelle van Vliet (Faculty of Geosciences)
- Dr. Amir Raoof (Faculty of Geosciences)
- Dr. Milou Dingemans (Faculty of Veterinary Medicine/KWR)
- Dr. Florian Meirer (Faculty of Science)
- Prof. Dr. Herman Kasper Gilissen (Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance and Delta Climate Center)
Program
| 9:00 – 9:20 | Registration participants with coffee and tea |
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| 9:20 – 9:45 | Welcome and introduction - Michelle van Vliet (Faculty of Geosciences) |
| 9:45 – 10:15 | Chair: Florian Meirer (Science) Keynote: Health risks from waterborne exposure – Ana Maria Roda Husman (RIVM / Faculty of Veterinary Medicine) |
| 10:15 – 10:45 | Keynote: Changes in global surface water quality and clean water scarcity for the 21st century – Edward Jones (Faculty of Geosciences) |
| 10:45 – 11:15 | Coffee Break |
| 11:15 – 12:00 | Thematic Group Discussions – Round I |
| 12:00 – 13:00 | Lunch and Poster Presentations |
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| 13:00 – 14:30 | Parallel Sessions on Challenges and Solutions of Water Quality |
| 14:30 – 15:15 | Thematic Group Discussions – Round II |
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| 15:15 – 15:30 | Coffee break and Poster Presentations |
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| 15:30 – 16:00 | Chair: Amir Raoof (Faculty of Geosciences) Keynote: Challenges in meeting the EU Water Framework Directive by 2027 and beyond – Jasper van Kempen (Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management / Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance) |
| 16:00 – 16:45 | Chair: Milou Dingemans (KWR/ Faculty of Veterinary Medicine) Panel discussion with panel members and outcomes of two break-out sessions. Panellists:
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| 16:45 – 17:00 | Summary and Closure – Herman Kasper Gilissen (Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance) |
| 17:00 – 18:00 | Posters, Drinks and Bites |
The strategic theme of Utrecht University ‘Pathways to Sustainability’ aims to bring scientists from different disciplines together in studying pathways to a sustainable future. ‘Water, Climate and Future Deltas’, one of the thematic communities within this strategic theme, focuses on how deltas and their societies can transform into sustainable and resilient systems by studying contributing drivers, by predicting impacts and optimizing solutions. Delta regions are overall densely populated and are facing challenges of water quality unsuitability for human use (drinking water, irrigation water, industrial use) and nature, due to transport of pollutants from upstream parts of the river basin and due to increases in salinization, amplified due to sea level rise and drought.
- Start date and time
- End date and time
- Location
- Victor J. Koningsberger building, Utrecht University
- Registration
Registration is closed.