We have to do more than just save water

The »Thuringian Water Innovation Cluster« (ThWIC), an interdisciplinary network combining science and business, was launched on 1 February. The aim is to develop new water technologies and find ways for society to deal with the increasingly scarce resource. In our interview with ThWIC spokesperson, Prof. Michael Stelter, he assesses the current situation and explains why Jena is already a water hub.

Interview by Ute Schönfelder

You initiated the ThWIC innovation cluster and played a key role in shaping it. Why did you find it important to focus on the topic of water?

At the Chair for Technical and Environmental Chemistry, we've been specializing in water research for a number of years and have built up quite a bit of expertise in that time. When the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) submitted an open-topic invitation to tender, we saw the opportunity to take our work to a completely new level and to establish it as an interdisciplinary research focus. The fact that we are among the few funded among 120 consortia to submit an application for such a future cluster shows that we were not entirely wrong in choosing this topic.

Where does your scientific interest in water come from?

One aspect is the increasingly visible impact of climate change. I come from the Ore Mountains, where there has been, as in other places, heavy rain and flooding in recent years, which has shown very impressively just how destructive water can be. And on the other hand, you can see what happens to our forests when there's no water. I'm certainly not the only one who has realized how important water is to our existence and environment.

I have been doing research on energy and environmental technology for years – and I've always had an eye on sociotechnology. In this time, I've constantly found that it's not necessarily the fascinating technical solutions that are the focus of public debate. Instead, there seems to be a focus on the potential risks of new technologies and concerns about making sacrifices and changing our ways. This is very clear in the case of renewable energies. And I feared early on that the same could happen when it comes to water in view of increasing water scarcity and climate change. I think there's a lot to be learned from the failings of the energy transition when it comes to water management so we can avoid making the same mistakes. In addition to all the technology, we also have to include society in the transition, and that's what makes the topic of water so interesting from a scientific point of view.

What are your goals within the cluster?

We want to make Jena a centre for water research, from which relevant economic products and services will emerge. In the future, Jena should not only be seen as an optics location, but also as a water hub. We're relying on Jena's unique strength: its culture of cooperation. In addition to the University of Jena and the University of Applied Sciences Jena, a number of strong non-university research institutions are also involved in ThWIC, including the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS), the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering (IOF) and the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (IPHT), as well as numerous companies that are global leaders in water technology solutions. In the past, however, there has been a lack of contextual cohesion and no link to the social sciences in particular. That framework is now provided by ThWIC. After all, we need to do more than just water research. We need a transformation on a social and economic level.

How will this be implemented?

The cluster is running 22 individual projects with three distinct objectives. First of all, we want to develop methods that can be used to remove micropollutants from water that have not been captured in sewage treatment plants up to now. And we want to develop digital, real-time techniques for measuring the quality of water in its systems, such as rivers, lakes and sewage pipes.

Our second goal is to establish a water assessment, which means that we want to find new and improved ways of evaluating water to provide a rational basis for political decisions on water use. And thirdly, we want to develop modern, digital and classic tools to make the general public and businesses aware of the current and fundamental challenges relating to water.

Are we discussing the topic of water enough outside of science?

I think we've reached a point where many people are realizing we have to do something about it and where there's a growing understanding that the issue affects us all. We can see the droughts and the effects of climate change right on our doorstep, including the aftermath of the 2021 flooding disaster in the Ahr Valley. Using the Tesla Gigafactory in Brandenburg as an example, we can see what distortions can arise if we prioritize jobs over water. There's clearly a need for action here. We still have time to act – and so we should. But for this to work, it's important to explain the situation and enable people to make informed decisions. By the way, when it comes to saving water, industry is often way ahead of the general public.

How so?

These days, industrial companies are no longer competitive if they don't produce sustainably. Sustainability is becoming increasingly important for investors. And most companies have learned their lesson in terms of their carbon footprint. It is now crucial for stakeholders to save not only CO₂, but also water, because it's a finite resource. A lot of water is still being used, especially in the food and paper industries and in the production of detergents and cleaning agents. Those companies are now looking for ways to improve their water consumption - for economic reasons, but also because it's otherwise difficult for them to sell their products. 

But just saving water is probably not the solution.

That's right. Of course, we can and should use water as sparingly as possible, just as we're currently trying to use energy as sparingly as possible. But, as with energy, we won't be able to solve all our problems just by cutting down; we need to develop new, sustainable technologies to conserve our resources. As a matter of fact, there's no shortage of water in Central Europe and Thuringia – it's just that we sometimes have it at the wrong time. In other regions of the world, however, there actually is a lack of water, so we need technological solutions and other costly investments, for example to desalinate seawater. This calls for holistic strategies.

What ideas and innovations can ThWIC offer for global water management?

First of all, we can gain knowledge. For example, there are very different water ownership regulations around the world. There are countries where water is private property and treated as a commercial resource. In other countries, however, water is in the public domain, which often means that nobody takes care of it and the water quality is poor. In Germany, we're somewhere in between. And those are the kind of differences and perspectives we want to study and analyse with an interdisciplinary focus in ThWIC. And we want to make the technologies we develop here, such as our water purification solutions, available for use not only in Central Europe, but also in other parts of the world. A basic prerequisite for this will be that our technologies work exclusively with renewable energies.

How do you personally ensure the sustainable use of water? And what can each of us do to live more sustainably every day?

I can give you a very mundane example: We try to only drink tap water. We have realized how lucky we are in Germany to have water that we can drink straight from the tap without any concerns. The same applies to skincare products – my family and I make sure that we buy products that don't contain any microplastics. These are personal consumption decisions that everyone can make for themselves.