DEMOCRATIA - AQUA - TECHNICA

 
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DEMOCRATIA - AQUA - TECHNICA
DEMOCRATIA - AQUA - TECHNICA

                  Funded by the DAAD from funds of the Federal Foreign Office:

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DEMOCRATIA - AQUA - TECHNICA
EDITORS
    Prof. Dr. Maja Turk-Sekulić,
    Prof. Dr. Ulrike Gayh

    GRAPHIC CONCEPT
    SchulzundSchramm GbR

    LAYOUT AND TYPESETTING
    SchulzundSchramm GbR

    COVER DESIGN
    SchulzundSchramm GbR

    PROOFREADING
    Douglas Fear
    John Lugongo

    ORGANIZER
    SRH University Heidelberg
    University of Novi Sad

    FURTHER Contributors
    Prof. Benjamin Zierock

    ISBN E-PUB
    978-3-9822521-1-7

    FUNDED BY
    The DAAD from funds of the Federal Foreign Office
    DAAD – German Academic Exchange Service

    © DEMOCRATIA 2020 AND THE AUTHORS

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DEMOCRATIA - AQUA - TECHNICA
9    Foreword                                                                         51   Treatment & Potential Utilizations Of Contamined Biomass
                                                                                                         After The Phytoremediation Of Landfill Leachate
    13   SRH Hochschule Heidelberg
                                                                                          54   Competitive Study Of Pharmaceutical Adsorption Onto Novel Biochair
    15   Water Technology (M.Eng)
                                                                                          56   Water Resource Management To Achieve Sustainable Development
    17   University Of Novi Sad                                                                          In Busher (A Coastal City In Iran)

    18   The Program                                                                      60   Biological Treatment For Liquid Waste Generated In Livestock Processes
                  Conference
                                                                                          62   Re-Use Of Greywater For Construction Purposes
    20   Sustainable Water Resources Management
                                                                                          64   Climate Change & Water Resources Allocation
    24   Summer School “Neckar Now”                                                                      Managing Users´ Conflicts Through Modeling

    26   Designing A Democratic Future:                                                   66   Health Risk Assessment Of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons In Ambient Air
                  Making A Case For Transdisciplinary Approaches
                                                                                          68   The Emission Of BTEX Compounds During The Movement Of Passenger Cars In
    28   Linking Economic & Environmental Gains:                                               Urban Environment
         	       Conversion Technologies & Applications In Support Of Circular Economy
                                                                                          70   Concentration Levels Of The Atmospheric Particles PM10, PM2.5, & PM1
    30   Water Conflicts & Limitation Methods                                                            During The Winter Season On The Territory Of Novi Sad, Serbia
                  A Case Study Of Water Conflict In Egypt & Ethiopia
                                                                                          74   Hackathon
    34   Water, The New Weapon                                                                           Challenge 01

    35   Fuelling Fire With Water                                                         76   Water Conflicts & Limiting Methods
                  A Case Study Of Conflicts Around Lake Chad                                             Challenge 03

    36   Fuelling Fire With Water                                                         78   Digital Exploration Rally
                  Conflict Research & Lake Chad Crisis                                                   Waste Water Treatment

    38   Improvement Of Drought Management                                                80   Gamification
                                                                                                         A Short Introduction
    41   Sustainable Wastewater Management & Resource Recovery Systems Through
         Novel Anaerobic & Bioelectrochemical Processes                                   84   Thank You!

    42   Wastewater Treatment From Nitrogen Compounds In The Trickling Biofilter          86   Partner

    43   Steps Towards Green Technology
         	      Utilisation Of Natural “Low-Cost” Coagulant In Wastewater Treatment

    44   The Lake Chad Water Chrisis
                  Violent Intrastate Conflict In The Lake Chad Basin

    46   Case Study Of Water Conflict Between India & China

    48   Research On The Quality Change Of Doc In Stored Peat

4                                                                                                                                                                          5
DEMOCRATIA - AQUA - TECHNICA
Prof. Dr. Ulrike Gayh
                                                         Ulrike Gayh is Professor for Environmental and
                                                         Process engineering and is the Dean of the Mas-
                                                         ter ´s program in Water Technology (M.Eng.) at the
                                                         School of Engineering and Architecture of the SRH
                                                                                                                        FOREWORD
                                                         University Heidelberg. She conducts international
                                                         research activities in the field of water technolo-
                                                         gy solutions for the prevention and reduction of
                                                         local and regional water conflicts. Together with      The idea of the initiative Democratia-Aqua-Technica is about transform-
                                                         colleagues from the Serbian partner university,        ing local and regional water conflicts into pathways to peace and democ-
                                                         the University of Novi Sad, she established the        racy incorporating innovative science and technology approaches.
                                                         Democratia-Aqua-Technica initiative which deals
                                                         with the question of innovative technical concepts
                                                                                                                The project is funded as part of the DAAD programme “East-West Di-
                                                         for sustainable water resource management. She
                                                         has further research interests in the fields of bio-   alogue“, and three events have been planned for 2020 which will deal
                                                         gas, wastewater management and water protec-           with the question of innovative technical concepts for sustainable water
                                                         tion. The focus being mainly alternative sanitation    resource management. The events were organized together with the Ser-
                                                         systems as well and the removal of micropollutants     bian partner university “University of Novi Sad” and other partner univer-
                                                         using alternative adsorbents.                          sities in Russia, Hungary and Turkey. The special feature of this project
                                                                                                                was that the students and doctoral candidates should work together on
                                                                                                                projects throughout the year, even between courses.

Prof. Dr. Maja                                                                                                  The initial project plan consists of the following three events.

Turk-Sekulić                                                                                                      tudy Visit in Germany: crossing the bridge from higher education to
                                                                                                                 S
                                                                                                                 water practice and technology;
Maja Turk-Sekulić is a Professor of Environmental
Engineering at the Department of Environmental
                                                                                                                         Objective: to develop sustainable and innovative project ideas
Engineering and Occupational Safety and Health,                                                                           to solve the most common conflicts related to water technolo-
Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad.                                                                    gies, as well as getting to know different companies involved in
She is a Chair of Master´s academic studies program                                                                       this field.
Water Treatment and Safety Engineering, and Vice                                                                Planned in Heidelberg and Munich (IFAT), dates: 04/05/20 - 08/05/20.
President of the Serbian Chemical Society (Sec-
tion for Environmental Chemistry). Her main activi-                                                              Young Scientist Research Week in Serbia: traveling projects at UNS.
ties and responsibilities are teaching, research and                                                                     Objective: to obtain an overview of the water conflicts in Serbia,
leadership in national and international scientific                                                                       and to develop a research project in teams with the purpose of
projects. Her main areas of specialization are green                                                                      comparing the current technical stand of the water supply and
technologies for wastewater treatment, wastewater
                                                                                                                          different ways of engaging civil society.
management, monitoring and low-cost decontam-
ination and remediation; The partitioning, disper-
                                                                                                                Planned in Novi Sad, dates: 29/06/20 - 03/07/20.
sal and retention of organic pollutants in Biotic and
Abiotic Systems; Analysis, environmental processes,                                                              Workshop with Partner Universities
and the fate of POPs in the environment, biotic and                                                                      Objective: to expand the geopolitical “catchment area” of the
abiotic transformations. Other fields of specializa-                                                                      project and to increase the variety of perspectives, experiences
tion are air pollution, gas/particle partitioning, and                                                                    and practical examples.
the partitioning of polychlorinated biphenyls.                                                                  Planned in Novi Sad, dates: 24/09/20 – 29/09/20.

6                                                                                                                                                                                              7
DEMOCRATIA - AQUA - TECHNICA
Because of the Covid-19 pan-           promote the reduction of regional
    demic, the whole project plan was      and local distribution conflicts.
    changed to a digital format. Using a
    cross-media approach with differ-      Thanks are due to all participants
    ent digital components, the proj-      and partners who made the Hack-
    ect could be successfully realized.    athon a success, and made the
    The main digital components were:      conference so exciting for every-
                                           body.
     
     Web-based  network    portal:
     www.democratia-aqua.org               In the future, further projects at
                                           the EU level are to follow under
      igital game application - Explor-
     D                                     the umbrella of the Democra-
     er app                                tia-Aqua-Technica initiative. We
                                           are looking forward to carry-
     4-hours hackathons with dif-
     2                                     ing out the second Democra-
     ferent challenges (took place on      tia-Aqua-Technica conference in
     September 1st and 2nd)                September 2021.

      igital Conference (took place on
     D
     September 24th and 25th)              Prof. Dr. Maja Turk-Sekulić &
                                           Prof. Dr. Ulrike Gayh
    This E-book provides an overview
    of our cross-media approach by
    presenting the main results of us-
    ing the different digital compo-
    nents.

    One of the main advantages of the
    digital concept of the Democra-
    tia-Aqua-Technica initiative 2020
    was that not only partners from
    the Western Balkans, but from all
    over the world participated in the
    Hackathon and the conference to
    find and discuss innovative techni-
    cal concepts for sustainable water
    resource management, in order to

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DEMOCRATIA - AQUA - TECHNICA
SRh Hochschule
                    Heidelberg
                  The SRH University Heidelberg was             ly on a maximum of two subjects within
                  founded in 1969, and it is one of the old-    one 5-week period. To ensure that stu-
                  est and largest private universities na-      dents remember what they are learning,
                  tionwide. It sets standards in the field of   the university takes a practical approach
                  education, and at six schools 42 study        to teaching, using case studies, seminars,
                  programs are offered. A highly import-        team projects, role plays and presenta-
                  ant part of this process is the close co-     tions. From the profusion of examination
                  operation between students and tutors.        methods available, the method that best
                  The concept for success: offering new,        fits the skills taught in a particular module
                  practical courses of study, individu-         is chosen. Scheduling a great number of
                  al support and a fast track to the labour     exams within a short period of time is now
                  market. For the students, this means the      a thing of the past, thanks to the new pro-
                  best chance of an optimal start in profes-    gram. The graduates are capable of prov-
                  sional life - with a tight network of con-    ing themselves in a real business environ-
                  nections to enterprises and educational       ment after their studies. In their roles as
                  institutions worldwide. Cooperation with      mentors and coaches, the teaching staff
                  business enterprises or integration in re-    assist the students in every way possible,
                  search projects and colloquia enable the      be it subject-specific content, study or-
                  students to make use of the knowledge         ganization or in personal matters.
                  and skills they have acquired. 92% of the
                  students graduate successfully.               The School of Engineering and Architec-
                                                                ture offers an excellent education that
                  The “CORE-Principle” –                        is subject-specific: ready for take-off in
                  Competence-Oriented Research and Ed-          working life, with a unique mix of theo-
                  ucation – places the acquisition of occu-     retical basics, field trips and internships.
                  pational competence at the center of the      Today, being an engineer not only involves

     THE
                  studies. This approach goes far beyond        planning, designing and optimizing, but it
                  the delivery of theoretical knowledge. The    is also about developing design and tech-
                  term occupational competence denotes          nical solutions by taking the ecological,
                  all the skills that enable the students to    social and economic factors into account
                  act independently and successfully in the     and staying competitive in the global
                  labour market. Occupational competence        market. Great importance is placed on

     background
                  can be attained at many levels by acquir-     the issues of energy efficiency and sus-
                  ing professional competence, method-          tainability, so that future challenges can
                  ological competence, self-competence          be met successfully and responsibly.
                  and social competence. Instead of hav-
                  ing to deal with numerous subjects at the
                  same time, the students can focus entire-

10                                                                                                              11
DEMOCRATIA - AQUA - TECHNICA
WATER TECHNOLOGY                                                                         Program duration
                                                                                              Main Course (90 CP): 18 months

                       MASTER OF ENGINEERING                                                   ith the preliminary course (120 CP) or
                                                                                              W
                                                                                              optional internship in Semester 3 (120
                                                                                              CP): 24 months

     The Master´s Program Water Technology (M.Eng.) provides an overview of
     the main challenges related to the availability and supply of water, its use as
     a source of energy, and the treatment of wastewater.

     Objectives of the program
      To understand the major challenges re-                                                                                                      Program overview
      lated to the availability of clean water                                                                                                        emester 1 modules: Water Quality, Wa-
                                                                                                                                                     S
                                                                                                                                                     ter Treatment I, Water Treatment II, Wa-
      To learn how to mitigate the climate
                                                                                                                                                    ter Treatment III
      change
                                                                                                                                                      emester 2 modules: Waste Manage-
                                                                                                                                                     S
      o analyze methods of wastewater
      T                                                                                                                                              ment, Water as Energy and Waste to
      treatment and water supply                                                                                                                     Energy, Water Project - Climate Change
                                                                                                                                                     Mitigation, Elective
      To recognize the role of water as a
      
      source of energy and how to turn waste                                                                                                         Semester 3: Master Thesis
      into energy

     Discussion / Outlook
      At the end of the program, students can    J ob opportunities exist in global water
      develop sustainable solutions to fight       companies, technology providers in the
      the environmental pollution and help         water sector, research centers or insti-
      mitigate climate change                      tutes and communal companies in the                                                                                    For more
                                                   water sector                                                                                                         information,
                                                                                                                                                                        please check
                                                                                                                                                                        our homepage

                                                                                                                         CECILIA GARCIA, ULRIKE GAYH

                                                                                                                          SRH University Heidelberg, Germany
12                                                                                                                                                                                              13
DEMOCRATIA - AQUA - TECHNICA
University of
                          Novi Sad
                                 FACULTY OF TECHNICAL SCIENCES

                  With over 1,200 staff and more than            offs of FTN employ about 4,000 IT engi-
                  14,000 students currently attending all        neers in the region. The two largest ones
                  levels of academic studies, the Faculty        (Schneider Electric and RT-RK) account
                  of Technical Sciences (FTN) is the largest     for 1,700 of these.
                  single faculty of the University of Novi Sad
                  and Serbia, educating over 2,000 post-         When it comes to research activities of
                  graduate and nearly 1,000 PhD students         FTN, they are primarily oriented towards
                  at the moment. Founded in 1974, FTN            the research projects which are direct-
                  traces its roots back to the establishment     ly or indirectly aimed at practical appli-
                  of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering       cation in industry, supporting innovation
                  in 1960. Today, the Faculty is comprised       and technology development. So far, FTN
                  of 13 departments conducting research in       has successfully completed around 200
                  virtually all areas of engineering.            projects supported by the Serbian and
                                                                 Provincial Ministry of Science and Tech-
                  In addition, FTN encompasses many cen-         nology and more than 150 international
                  ters designed to focus intradepartmental       projects realized within different frame-
                  efforts, including the Industry/University     works: FP6, FP7, H2020, EUREKA, COST,
                  Collaborative Research Center for Ad-          IPA, TEMPUS, ERASMUS+ and CEEPUS.
                  vanced Knowledge Enablement (KOI), es-
                  tablished in 2016 as a collaborative effort    In order to keep up with the high level of
                  with the Florida Atlantic University, USA.     performance, the Faculty has co-invest-

     THE
                  The main objective of KOI is promotion,        ed in the development of the Novi Sad
                  support and organization of joint research     Science-Technological (ST) Park, which
                  projects between the industry and FTN          opened its doors in January 2020, adding
                  researchers.                                   10,000m2 of laboratory and office space
                                                                 to its facilities.
                  A regional leader in technology transfer,
                  over the last two decades FTN has spun         The University of Novi Sad, with around

     background
                  off over 100 companies, mostly in the do-      50,000 students and 5,000 employees,
                  main of ICT, with a turnover of 100 million    is one of the largest educational and re-
                  euros, making this the most important          search centers in Central Europe. It be-
                  industry locally. To illustrate the dynam-     longs to the group of comprehensive
                  ics, 40 of these companies were created        universities which are characterized by
                  between 2005 and 2010, employed 850            providing training in nearly all fields of
                  engineers and were generating 18 million       science and higher education.
                  euros already in 2007. Today the spin-

14                                                                                                            15
DEMOCRATIA - AQUA - TECHNICA
25.09.2020

                                                                                              9:00 - 9:15     Welcome from Prof. Dr. Maja Turk-Sekulić (UNS)

            THE PROGRAM                                                                       9:15 - 9:45     Health risk assessments of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in am-
                                                                                                              bient air in Novi Sad, Serbia: Prof. Dr. Jelena Radonić (UNS)

                                                                                              9:45 - 10:15    The emission of BTEX compounds during the motion of passenger
                        DIGITAL CONFERENCE                                                                    cars in accordance with the NEDC: Prof. Dr. Dragan Adamović (UNS)

                     DEMOCRATIA-AQUA-TECHNICA                                                                 Improvement of the Drought Management: Prof. Dr. Sándor Szalai
                                                                                              10:15 - 11:00
                                                                                                              (SIU)

                                                                                              11:00 - 11:45   Fuelling Fire with Water: A Case Study on Conflicts around Lake
      24.09.2020                                                                                              Chad: Emil Unrath, Nikolaus Reeg (HIIK)

                                                                                              11:45 - 12:15   Water, the New Weapon: Cheikh Diallo (Species Analysis, Senegal)

     9:00 - 9:30     Welcome from Prof. Dr. Carsten Diener (Rector SRH)

                                                                                              12:15 - 13:30   Lunchbreak - Poster session

     9:30 - 10:15    Welcome and Keynote speech: Prof. Dr. Ulrike Gayh (SRH)

                                                                                              13:30 - 14:00   Results of the Hackathon Challenge 3 - Water Conflicts and Methods
                                                                                                              of Limitation: Ajeesh Nellikunnel Jose, John Lugongo, Prof. Dr. Ulrike
     10:15 - 11:00   Keynote speech - Research activities at the Department of Environ-                       Gayh (SRH)
                     mental Engineering and Occupational Safety and Health: Prof. Dr.
                     Maja Turk-Sekulić, Prof. Dr. Jelena Radonić (UNS)
                                                                                              14:00 - 14:30   The Influence of Water on a Rural Environment in its Economic and
                                                                                                              Ecological Aspects, Shown in the example of the river Alb in the
     11:00 - 11:45   Introduction and Review Hackathon, Results Hackathon Challenge 1:                        Albtal (Alb-Valley): Mathias Naar (SRH)
                     Prof. Dr. Benjamin Zierock (SRH)

                     Introduction Poster Session (Overview of topics + Participants + Pro-    14:30 - 15:00   Designing a democratic future: Making a Case for Transdisciplinary
     11:45 - 12:00                                                                                            Research Approaches: Belen Zevallos (SRH)
                     cedure): Prof. Dr. Ulrike Gayh / Prof. Benjamin Zierock (SRH)

                     Lunchbreak - Poster Session                                              15:00 - 15:30   Steps towards Green Technology: the Utilisation of Natural „Low-
     12:00 - 13:30                                                                                            Cost“ Coagulant in Wastewater Treatment: Sanja Radovic (UNS)

                     Sustainable wastewater management and resource recovery sys-             15:30 - 16:00   Treatment and Potential Uses of Contaminated Biomass after the
     13:30 - 14:15                                                                                            Phytoremediation of Landfill Leachate: Katarina Antić (UNS)
                     tems through novel anaerobic and bioelectrochemical processes:
                     Assist. Prof. Dr. Yasemin Dilsad Yilmazel (METU)
                                                                                              16:00 - 16:30   Contaminations of the Danube Sediment: Effects of Brominated
                                                                                                              Flame Retardants effect: Maja Brboric (UNS)
     14:15 - 15:00   Wastewater Treatment from Nitrogen Compounds in the Trickling
                     Biofilter: Olga Yantsen, Prof. Dr. Elena Gogina (NRU)
                                                                                              16:30 - 17:00   Conclusion and Outlook of the Democratia-Aqua-Technica Initiative:
                                                                                                              Prof. Dr. Maja Turk-Sekulić (UNS) / Prof Dr. Ulrike Gayh (SRH) / Prof.
     15:00 - 15:45   Introduction Digital Games-Application - Explorer App + Hackathon                        Dr. Jelena Radonić (UNS)
                     Challenge 4: Oliver Schlenker (SRH)

     From 16:00      Final discussion + Poster session: Prof. Dr. Maja Turk-Sekulić (UNS) /
                     Prof Dr. Ulrike Gayh (SRH)
                     Digital city ralley Heidelberg - water and architecural highlights of
                     the city

16                                                                                                                                                                                     17
DEMOCRATIA - AQUA - TECHNICA
SUSTAINABLE                                   conditions, such as climate,
                                                   sediments, and other hydro-
                                                                                                          sanitation systems are an
                                                                                                          important topic to deal with.

     WATER
                                                   logical conditions have an in-                         The concept of source sepa-
                                                   fluence on the water quality                           ration of wastewater is in the
                                                   in different regions, too.                             focus of new alternative san-
     RESOURCES                                     Within the framework of sus-
                                                                                                          itation systems. Source sep-
                                                                                                          aration means the direction

     MANAGEMENT                                    tainable water resources
                                                   management, there are dif-
                                                   ferent topics to be dealt with.
                                                                                                          of wastewater into separate
                                                                                                          black water and grey water
                                                                                                          divisions, and is linked to the
                                                   Redesigning cities and public                          topic of domestic wastewa-
     There are a lot of global challenges in       spaces so that they are able                           ter recycling. Black water is
     the world. The topic of clean water is        to be resilient is as important                        defined as the wastewater
     one of them. The United Nations (UN)          as the adaptation and mitiga-                          from toilets, which consists
     has defined the access to drinking wa-        tion as the main short-term                            of urine, faeces, flushing wa-
     ter as a human right, but billions have a     factors for climate resiliency.                        ter and toilet paper. It can be
     shortage. [UN 2019] Resources of water        The relationship with water is                         further divided into yellow
     are surface waters, such as river water       important, as water is an es-                          water (urine) and brown wa-
     or lake water, and sea water, groundwa-       sential resource for the daily                         ter (faeces). Grey water is de-
     ter, rain water, air humidity and leachate.   life and is included in today´s                        fined as the wastewater from
     More than 70 % of the earth´s surface         sustainability goals and urban                         all other sources than the toi-
     is covered in water, but most of this is      development strategies. The                            let, e.g. from the kitchen, from
     salt water in oceans and just a small         objective should be to devel-                          the bathroom as well as from
     amount is fresh water. About the half of      op a future strategy and inte-                         the washing machine. Figure 1
     the world’s population faces the risk of      grating innovative scenarios.                          shows the composition of the
     water shortage and the global water de-       With regard to water sensi-                            domestic wastewater.
     mand is projected to increase by 55%          tive cities, new alternative
     by 2050. [UN 2019] Furthermore the
     amount of clean drinking water in many
     regions is decreasing owing to pollution.
     Effects related to climate change, such
     as flooding or aridity are intensifying
     challenges of water supply. In addition
     to that the increasing energy produc-
     tion requires water, but also clean wa-
     ter requires energy. There are several
     factors influencing the quality of water.
     Some are man-made, such as industry
     and land-use and well as the treatment
     for water supply and wastewater. But          Fig 1: Percentage composition of domestic wastewater

18                                                                                                                                           19
From figure 1 it is obvious that   With regard to domestic            Thus, no conventional waste-                                  areas or for evaporation in
     the main volume flow of do-        wastewater recycling the           water treatment plant is nec-                                 water retention boxes.
     mestic wastewater comes            main recycling processes           essary. This concept has been                                 A world map showing best
     from the sources for grey wa-      are the black water recycling      applied in the residential area                               practice examples of public
     ter. The volume flows of yel-      process (LooLoop-Process)          of Lübeck-Flintenbreite, Ger-                                 spaces in different countries
     low water and brown water          and the grey water recycling       many. [Ott 2009].                                             that are next to a river, water
     are negligible, but with regard    process (BlueLoop-Process).                                                                      front or a place that estab-
     to the organic load, the main      Both could be realised by a        Source separation also helps                                  lishes a relation to
     part is in the brown water. The    bio-membrane          treatment    in improving the climate                                      a water site
     brown water also contains          and re-using the water for         in cities. The future of roof                                 has    been
     problematic substances (e.g.       toilet flushing. Also the col-     greening in cities is direct-                                 developed
     faecal bacteria, pharmaceu-        lection of rain water and use      ly linked with topics, such as                                by the par-
     tical residues) of the domes-      of a sand filtration can be a      the cleansing of grey water on                                ticipants in the
     tic wastewater. The yellow         simple process for re-using        the roof surfaces of houses or                                international
     water, is in comparison with       rainwater for toilet flushing.     car parks in constructed wet-                                 summer school
     the other domestic wastewa-                                           lands or in biofilters, as well as                            Neckar Now.
     ter streams, rich in nutrients     New alternative sanitation         the use of purified grey water
     such as nitrogen and phos-         systems could be integrat-         for irrigation of intensive roof
     phorus. So, in general, the        ed in the technical design of
     black water is mainly respon-      residential areas. The source
     sible for the effort needed to     separation is the key factor
     cleanse domestic wastewater        here, as well. Concepts avail-
     efficiently, as the grey wa-       able are, for example, using
     ter is not loaded with organic     vacuum toilets and feeding
     matter, nutrients and further      the black water, together with
     substances. Surfactants are        bio waste from the kitchen,
     the main critical group in this    into a biogas plant. The heat
     wastewater stream. New al-         and electricity produced are
     ternative sanitation systems       used in the residential area
     use the composition of the         and the fermentation resi-
     different wastewater streams       dues are used in agriculture.      Figure 2: Best practice examples of public spaces developed during the summer school Neckar Now
     in adapting the source sepa-       All other waste water streams,
     ration in an efficient ecolog-     i.e. the grey water, are treated
     ical way. In addition to grey      in a constructed wetland and       REFERENCES
     and black water, rain water is     seeped away or are drained         [Ott2009] - OtterWasser GmbH, 2009, Ecological housing estate,
                                                                           Flintenbreite, Lübeck, Germany - Draft. Case study of sustainable
     often integrated in new alter-     into surface waters following      sanitation projects, Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA)

     native sanitation systems.         treatment.                         [UN2019] - United Nations World Water Development Report 2019,
                                                                           United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,
                                                                           UNESCO 2019, ISBN 978-92-3-100309-7

                                                                                                                             ULRIKE GAYH

                                                                                                                  SRH University Heidelberg, Germany
20                                                                                                                                                                           21
SUMMER SCHOOL
              NECKAR NOW
     The School of Engineering and Ar-          expert feedback rounds gave the par-
     chitecture     presented   the     first   ticipants the ability to develop differ-
     interdisciplinary   Summer      School     ent approaches to local problems, as
     “Neckar Now: Transformative ap-            well as to create their own projects
     proaches for a sustainable future”,        in an immersive experience. It was an
     which took place from 16th until 21st of   exciting one-week program for those
     August 2020.                               considering future studies in Water
                                                Technology (M.Eng.) or Architecture
     The Neckar Now Summer School ad-           (B.A. or M.A.).
     dressed the potential and challenges
     of a city along the river from an engi-    Owing to the current Covid-19 pan-
     neering and architectural perspective.     demic, this Neckar Now Summer
     Heidelberg provides the perfect set-       School was carried out as a hybrid
     ting to learn about current trends and     model. That means, that some partic-
     methods of sustainable innovation and      ipants were physically in Heidelberg,
     design. Field trips, input sessions and    while others participated online.

     Four different
     projects have
     been developed
     by the participants:

     FIND OUT
     MORE:

22                                                                                         23
DESIGNING A                                                                                                  What can we do as
                                                                                                                      researchers?
      DEMOCRATIC FUTURE:                                                                                              So often researchers produce research that is
                                                                                                                      either too far away from reality or too compli-
                                                                                                                      cated to understand for the users that need

     MAKING A CASE FOR TRANS-                                                                                         this research to solve a specific problem. This
                                                                                                                      often happens because of a lack of diversity in
                                                                                                                      research teams, they tend to be blindsided by

      DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
                                                                                                                      the heterogeneity in their disciplines. However,
                                                                                                                      this can be changed, and it is proven to yield
                                                                                                                      extraordinary results.

           APPROACHES
                                                                                                                                                                                      Fig. 2: Film frame form the movie “12 Angry Men” (1957)

                                                                                                                                                                                      About transdisciplinarity
                                                                                                                                                                                      Transdisciplinarity connotes a research strate-
                                                                                                                                                                                      gy that crosses many disciplinary boundaries
                                                                                                                                                                                      to create a holistic approach. It applies to re-
                                                                                                                                                                                      search efforts focused on problems that cross
                                                                                                                                                                                      the boundaries of two or more disciplines.
      Context                                                                                                                                                                         What happens if we take research outside of
      The world is currently living in the middle of a                                                                                                                                the bubble?
      pandemic; this has exacerbated the gap be-                                                                                                                                      Based on our experience with the “Reallabor
      tween the haves and have-nots making envi-                                                                                                                                      STADT-RAUM-BILDUNG”, the German for Re-
      ronmental and social issues even more visible.                                                                                                                                  al-World Laboratory: City-Space-Education,
      The questions of how we want to live and what                                                                                                                                   real-world laboratories give researchers the
      we can do have suddenly become central.                                                                          Fig. 3: Transdisciplinary approaches, Workshops with dif-      chance of developing solutions for real-world
                                                                                                                       ferent actors. Reallabor STADT-RAUM-BILDUNG (2019)
                                                                                                                                                                                      problems.
      By following the model of Constanza (2003) it
      is possible to see our resources as unlimited or
      limited, and so to develop either pessimistic or
      optimistic views of the world.                                                                                  Schäpke et al. (2015) describe real-world lab-                  knowledge production takes place in real-world
      In this sense, it is possible to live in either a                                                               oratories as the targeted set-up of a research                  environments instead of scientific laboratories.
      “Start Trek” world with unlimited resources and                                                                 “infrastructure“ or a “space” in which scientific               By creating transdisciplinary teams to develop
      an optimistic view of the world, or in, the op-                                                                 actors and actors from civil society cooperate                  research, it is possible to develop solutions for
      posite of that, a Mad Max world with limited                                                                    in the joint production of knowledge in order                   real problems while at the same time dealing
      resources and a pessimistic view of the world.                                                                  to support a more sustainable development of                    with the actors that face this problem. Trans-
      I like to think we want to live in an “Ecotopia”.                                                               society. […] He then addresses two key chal-                    disciplinary research can be applied to any re-
                                                                                                                      lenges of real-world laboratories: 1. both sci-                 search field; it is time we work not just for soci-
      Callenbach describes how his “Ecotopians” at-                                                                   entists and civil society actors are involved in                ety, but with(in) the society.
      tach fundamental importance to environmen-                                                                      the process of knowledge production; and 2.
                                                                 Fig. 1: Based on the Model of Constanza (2003:665)
      tal and social stability within which variety can
      flourish.
      This sounds like a great place, but how can we
      get there?

                                                                                                                      references
      According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary,         happen if often the decision makers look like a
      democracy is defined as “A government in             scene from the movie “12 Angry Men” (1957)?                  rnstein, Sherry R.(1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation
                                                                                                                       A                                                                tadt Raum Bildung (2019): Stadt Raum Bildung.[online]
                                                                                                                                                                                        S
                                                                                                                       Schäpke N., Singer-Brodowski M., Stelzer F., Bergmann M.        www.stadt-raum-bildung.de, [online] Retrieved March 16,
      which the supreme power is vested in the peo-        We need to create diverse spaces where all                  and Lang D. J. (2015). Creating space for change: Real-world     2020.
      ple and exercised by them directly or indirectly     people are represented, as only in this way we              laboratories for sustainability transformations. The case of     Urban Catalyst Studio (2020):Schutzenmatte [online] www.
      through a system of representation usually in-       can create a future that works for everyone.                Baden-Württemberg. GAIA, 24, 4: 281-283. [online] (DOI):          urbancatalyst.de, [online] Retrieved March 16, 2020.
                                                                                                                       10.14512/gaia.24.4.17
      volving periodically held free elections.” Here it                                                                Space Transcribers (2020):Space Transcribers. [online]
                                                                                                                        
      is important to note that it is defined in terms                                                                 www.spacetranscribers.com, [online] Retrieved March 16,
      of representation of people, but how can this                                                                    2020.

                                                                                                                                                                       BELEN ZEVALLOS

                                                                                                                                                              SRH University Heidelberg, Germany

24                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  25
LINKING ECONOMIC AND
     ENVIRONMENTAL GAINS:
     CONVERSION TECHNOLOGIES AND
      APPLICATIONS IN SUPPORT OF
          CIRCULAR ECONOMY

                                                                                                  ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
                                                                                                  This study was financially support-
     Exploring new and sustainable tech-        development - multifunctional bio-                ed by the CEEPUS student exchange
     nologies for low-cost, eco-friendly        chars and activated carbons capable               program and by the Ministry of Ed-
     and efficient wastewater remediation       of highly efficient separation of a wide          ucation, Science and Technological
     and decontamination present en-            range of micropollutants (heavy met-              Development, project n° 451-03-
     vironmental, economic and human            al ions, chlorophenols, pharmaceutical            68/2020-14/200156: “Innovative sci-
     health challenges. Modern society          compounds [sulfamethoxazole, car-                 entific and artistic research from the
     supports transition towards an econ-       bamazepine, diclofenac, naproxen, ke-             FTS (activity) domain“.
     omy in which different materials are       toprofen, ibuprofen] and radionucle-
     kept as long as possible while reduc-      ides) within different waste treatment
     ing the generation of waste. Nowadays,     systems. In this paper we will present
     the majority of generated organic solid    the novel design and synthesis de-
     wastes are either applied to the land or   tails, characterization (performed by
                                                                                                  REFERENCES
     sent to landfills. Knowledge, research     elemental analysis, scanning electron              Pap, S., Kirk, C., Bremner, B., Turk Sekulic, M., Shea-       taminants on multifunctional carbonous adsorbent:
                                                                                                   rer, L., Gibb, S., Taggart, M. (2020). Low-cost chito-         Mechanisms, modelling and metal coadsorption.
     and innovation are an essential part of    microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray                san-calcite adsorbent development for potential                Journal of Molecular Liquids: Vol. 284, pp. 372–382.
     the systemic changes needed for the        spectroscopy, Fourier transform in-                phosphate removal and recovery from wastewater
                                                                                                   effluent. Water Research, Volume 173, 15 April 2020,            aunović, O., Pap, S., Maletić, S., Taggart, M. A., Bos-
                                                                                                                                                                  P
     revision of the conventional methods       frared spectroscopy, and the Brunau-               115573.                                                        kovic, N., Turk Sekulic, M. (2019). Ionisable emerging
     of treating different waste streams,       er, Emmett and Taller technique), the                                                                             pharmaceutical adsorption onto microwave func-
     with the main goal of tapping into their   evaluation of their capability of high-            Pap, S., Kirk, C., Bremner, B., Turk Sekulic, M., Gibb,       tionalised biochar derived from novel lignocellulo-
                                                                                                   S., Maletic S., Taggart, M. (2020). Synthesis opti-            sic waste biomass. Journal of Colloid and Interface
     largely unrealized potential in terms of   ly efficient separation, batch studies             misation and characterisation of chitosan-calcite              Science: Vol. 547, pp. 350-360.
     environmental and economic benefits.       performed, desorption and regenera-                adsorbent from fishery-food waste for phosphorus
     Another critical environmental and hu-     tion study results, as well as eco-de-             removal. Environmental Science and Pollution Re-                urk Sekulic, M., Boskovic, N., Slavković, A., Garunović,
                                                                                                                                                                  T
                                                                                                   search: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07570-              J., Kolaković, S., Pap, S. (2019). Surface functionalised
     man health challenge is presented by       sign, life-cycle assessment, compara-              0.                                                             adsorbent for emerging pharmaceutical removal:
     micropollutants in wastewater. Com-        tive adsorption study and cost analysis                                                                           Adsorption performance and mechanisms. Process
                                                                                                   Turk Sekulić, M., Boskovic, N., Milanović, M., Grujić-        Safety and Environmental Protection: Vol. 125pp.
     mercial activated carbon can effec-        of the processes. The results of the               Letić, N., Gligorić, E., Pap, S. (2019). An insight into the   50–63.
     tively remove them, but its produc-        study should add significant capacity              adsorption of three emerging pharmaceutical con-
     tion is energy intensive and expensive.    to green remediation, decontamina-
     Inspired by these current issues, our      tion and waste utilization efforts.
     team is focused on different materials

                                                                                                MAJA TURK-SEKULIĆ                            JASMINA KOŽAR LOGAR                                     PAP SABOLČ

                                                                                           Faculty of Technical Sciences, Depart-         Department for low and medium energy          Environmental Research Institute, North Highl-
                                                                                           ment of Environmental Engineering and          physics, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova       and College, University of the Highlands and Is-
                                                                                           Occupational Safety and Health, Univer-        cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia            lands, Castle Street, Thurso KW14 7JD, UK
                                                                                           sity of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovića
                                                                                           6, 21 000 Novi Sad, Serbia                                                                   Faculty of Technical Sciences, Department of
                                                                                                                                                                                        Environmental Engineering and Occupational
                                                                                                                                                                                        Safety and Health, University of Novi Sad, Trg
26                                                                                                                                                                                      Dositeja Obradovića 6, 21 000 Novi Sad, Serbia
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           27
WATER CONFLICTS &                                                                                POLITICAL IMPACTS                                  ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
          LIMITATION METHODS                                                                                he lack of water may drive the countries
                                                                                                           T
                                                                                                           into riots and social and political chaos.
                                                                                                           This would entail a strain on diplomat-
                                                                                                                                                              Increasing probability of a seismic event.
                                                                                                                                                              Negative impacts on local fish populations.
                                                                                                                                                              Downstream sediment erosion.
                                                                                                            ic relations between Ethiopia, Egypt and          The disappearance of archaeological and
                      A CASE STUDY OF WATER CONFLICT                                                        Sudan, possibly resulting in a war.               historical sites.
                                                                                                                                                               Riparian habitat fragmentation and habi-
                            IN EGYPT & ETHIOPIA                                                                                                               tat loss.
                                                                                                                                                                Flooding and the destruction of surround-
                                                                                                                                                              ing habitats and ecosystems.

     BACKGROUND AND SOURCES OF THE CONFLICT
      he River Nile is shared by 11 riparian coun-
     T                                                a capacity of 74 billion m³ for electricity
     tries.                                           generation.
     Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopiaall depend on the      The estimated annual volume of the river is
      river for their social-economic activities.     110 billion m³.                                      SOLUTIONS TO THE CONFLICT
      Approximately 95% of water in Egypt is          Ethiopia proposes to fill the reservoir in less    dherence to the principle of cooperation
                                                                                                           A                                                  national Expert Committee’s recommen-
       sourced from the river.                        than 7 years, while Egypt proposes taking            by Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, based on             dations on the initial filling, and rules and
       Social-economic activities relating to wa-   more than 15 years to do this.                       their water needs, is key to averting a full-      guidelines on the annual operation of the
       ter uses from the river have created huge       There is no equitable distribution of water        blown water-related conflict                       Grand Renaissance Dam.
       tensions between the countries.                flow between the riparian countries, which           The principles of development, regional in-       The principle of trust building is key for
                                                                                                                                                              
       Ethiopia is constructing a mega-dam with      has resulted in this conflict.                        tegration, and sustainability will ensure the     the amicable resolution of any conflict
                                                                                                            peaceful co-existence of Ethiopia and her         that may emanate from Ethiopia’s sale
                                                                                                            neighbours Egypt and Sudan, given that            and Egypt’ and Sudan’s purchase of power
                                                                                                            the Blue Nile will be generating clean and        generated by the Grand Renaissance Dam.
                                                                                                            sustainable energy which will contribute to       The principle of the peaceful settlement
                                                                                                            the economic growth of all three countries.        of conflicts and the principle of dam safe-
                                                      SOCIAL IMPACTS                                        The principle of not causing significant          ty will ensure transparency and drastically
                                                       ultural ecosystem services, including the
                                                      C                                                      harm is important if Egypt and Sudan are          ease tensions with reference to the safety
                                                      use of the Blue Nile for recreational purpos-          to be assured that, in the absence of an          of Egypt and Sudan during the operation of
                                                      es, will be negatively affected.                       agreement, harm will be alleviated, and, if       the Grand Renaissance Dam.
                                                      Provision ecosystem services, including the           need be, appropriate compensation will be         The principle of sovereignty and unity of
                                                      Blue Nile as a source of fish for Egypt and            paid.                                              the region will ensure that Egypt, Eth-io-
                                                      Sudan, will be negatively affected.                    The principle of impartial and suitable use       pia, and Sudan exhibit good intentions on
                                                       Water as a provision ecosystem service for            will ensure that Ethiopia protects and pre-       the basis of equal sovereignty, unity of the
                                                      Egypt and Sudan will diminish significantly.            serves the Blue Nile, being mindful of the        region and mutual benefit, settling all con-
                                                        The Grand Renaissance Dam will help the              socioeconomic needs of Egypt and Sudan            flicts consensually through consultations
                                                      economies of Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to               with reference to the usage of the Blue Nile.     and negotiations.
                                                      grow through reliable power generation.                 The principle of cooperation in the prelim-      The principle of the peaceful settlement of
                                                         The Grand Renaissance Dam will expand the            inary filling of the reservoir and manage-        conflicts is of great relevance in ensuring
                                                      economies of rural communities in all three              ment of the dam will avert a water con-           a conflict-free Nile basin with an overall
                                                      countries.                                               flict between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan          lasting peace between Egypt, Ethiopia, and
                                                          Displacement of human populations.                   through the implementation of the Inter-          Sudan.

28                                                                                                                                                                                                             29
CASE STUDY: WATER CONFLICT
         IN EGYPT & ETHIOPIA

     CONCLUSION
     If a potential water conflict between Egypt,     A solution to this conflict without the co-
      Ethiopia and Sudan is to be averted, all three   operation of all these countries and trust of
      Nile basin countries should respect the 10       each other is impossible.
      principles of “The Declaration of Principles      There should be some arrangement to re-
      on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam”,         spond to shortages in the water supply
      which encompasses the resolution of dis-         during drought crises.
      putes through peaceful coexistence.                Transboundary water conflicts may be ex-
                                                                                                          REFERENCES
      The riparian countries must agree on pro-       acerbated as population increases if effec-
                                                                                                            ww.bbc.com/news/world-africa-50328647
                                                                                                           w
       cedures to share the available water supply.    tive cooperation is not improved.                   https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/02/09/world/
       Downstream countries can claim their
                                                                                                                 africa/nile-river-dam.html
       share of water by helping Ethiopia with fi-                                                          https://fanack.com/sudan/history-past-to-present/
                                                                                                                  blue-nile-dispute/?gclid=CjwKCAjw4rf6BRAvEi-wAn-
       nancial aids and other technical services.                                                                 2Q76jaggkp62WTX3W3131caBI1qodww0YYLoounCF9eGLP-
                                                                                                                  m9y-W8a3MNRoCCVQQAvD_BwE
                                                                                                             https://www.ethiopoint.com/who-owns-the-nile-egypt-
                                                                                                                  sudan-and-ethiopias-history-changing-dam/
                                                                                                              https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341655131_THE_
                                                                                                                  CONFLICT_BETWEEN_EGYPT_AND_ETHIO-PIA_OVER_
                                                                                                                  THE_NILE_WATER
                                                                                                               www.hydropower.org/case-studies/ethiopia-grand-ethio-
                                                                                                                  pian-renaissance-dam-gerd
                                                                                                                Tawil N. E. (June 2020). Declaration of Principles on Re-
                                                                                                                  naissance Dam is ‚exclusive agreement‘ bin-ding
                                                                                                                  Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan together: intl. law expert
     WORLD MAP OF WATER CONFLICTS                                                                                 https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/88909/Declaration-
                                                                                                                  of-Principles-on-Renaissance-Dam-is-ex-clusive-agree-
                                                                                                                  ment-binding [September 1 2020]
                                                                                                                 Salman S.M.A. (2017). The Declaration of Principles on the
                                                                                                                  Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam:
                                                                                                                  An Analytical Overview. In: Yihdego Z., Desta M., Merso
                                                                                                                  F. (eds) Ethiopian Yearbook of International Law 2016.
                                                                                                                  Ethiopian Yearbook of International Law, vol 2016. Springer,
                                                                                                                  Cham.
                                                                                                                  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55898-1_9

                                                                                FOR MORE
                                                                                DETAILS!

                                                                                                        AJEESH NELLIKUNNEL JOSE, CHEIKH DIALLO, JOHN LUGON-
                                                                                                       GO, KENNETH BEDU-ADDO, ADITI DAS, BAI XUE, DANIELA CHI-
                                                                                                       QUITO, LI WEI, LOUIS BOANSI OKOFO, MATHIAS NAAR, SERENA
                                                                                                                  KWAKYE-MINTAH, SUDHANSHU AVASTHI

                                                                                                                           SRH University Heidelberg, Germany
30                                                                                                                                                                               31
WATER,                                                                                  FUELLING FIRE
                       THE NEW                                                                                  WITH WATER
                       WEAPON                                                                                       A CASE STUDY OF CONFLICTS
                                                                                                                        AROUND LAKE CHAD

                                                                                               How can (non-)violent political conflicts be           tion growth, and poor regional water manage-
     The annual consumption of drinking           By 2025, more than 7.9 billion people        measured? What is international conflict man-          ment have resulted in the lake losing nearly 90
     water over the past 50 years has dou-        will be living in countries with a scarci-   agement and which new problems does it face?           percent of its water surface. However, recent
     bled to 3800 km3. In 1990, more than         ty of water.                                 Are the ongoing conflicts around Lake Chad il-         studies show that the lake has now regained
     1 billion people did not have access to      In several regions, there are current-       lustrative of these?                                   about half of its original water volume. In con-
                                                                                                                                                      trast to previous decades, the water in the lake
     drinking water. The minimum water re-        ly systems of water supply crossing          The study of political conflict is a complex field,    and the amount of precipitation in the region
     quirement is 50l per day per person,         several countries. A number of bi- or        and comprehensive and reliable information is          are subject to wide fluctuations and have simi-
     and the need tends to increase. Ev-          multilateral treaties exist between the      seldom found. The presentation will therefore          lar negative effects.
     ery 12 seconds someone is a victim of        countries involved for cooperative ex-       outline basic do’s and don’ts of conflict re-
                                                                                               search - and thus give the listener a first guide      Overall, the above factors are conducive to the
     poor water quality. 80% of the diseas-       ploitation of water resources to the
                                                                                               on how she can herself think critically about          outbreak of several conflicts of different types
     es in underdeveloped countries come          benefit of their inhabitants, but usu-       political conflict. Focusing on the “Heidelberg        in Lake Chad, especially intrastate conflicts.
     from poor water quality.                     ally these treaties are not respected,       Approach” and a material understanding of              In the context of water conflicts, intrastate
                                                  which leads to bad outcomes.                 conflict (i.e. excluding the digital realm), we will   conflicts often arise over the use and distribu-
                                                                                               try to achieve this in a short amount of time.         tion of water as a source to provide livelihoods
                                                                                               Additionally, an empirical spotlight is provid-        for individual (ethnic) groups. Water scarcity
     Some Conflicts around the World                                                           ed, focusing on new developments of political          and water unpredictability have direct and in-
                                                                                               conflicts. Historically, we can observe these          direct negative effects on intrastate conflicts.
     Nile			        1902: 		                        Egypt - Sudan-Ethiopia                     especially with the onset of globalization in the      Direct effects are disputes over the allocation
                                                                                               1980s and the end of the so-called Cold War.           of water between different users and uses. Less
     			 1929 und 1959:                             Egypt - Sudan                              Münkler´s concept of the “New Wars” shall ex-          reliable access to water can also threaten the
     Senegal		      1989:		                         Senegal - Mauritania                       emplify these developments of privatization,           sustainability of different types of livelihoods,
     Euphrat		      1987: 		                        Turkey - Syria                             asymmetry and autonomization.                          which can have various effects, all of which
     			 1990: 		                                   Syria - Iraq                                                                                      have the potential to cause or intensify intra-
                                                                                               In the second part, we will look at methods of         state conflicts. These effects can include mass
     Jordan			      1994 :		                        Israel - Jordania                          how to contain violence, namely internation-           migration, increased urbanization, and loss of
     Yarmuk		 1987 : 		                             Syria - Jordania                           al conflict management. Different approach-            trust in institutions.
     Indus			       1947/48: 		                     India - Pakistan                           es are then discussed. We will also look at the
     Tanganyka Lake 			                             Congo (Kinshasa) - Tanzania - Zambia       problems this faces, especially considering the        Indirect negative effects are caused by inad-
     Akpa Yafi		    1998: 		                        Nigeria - Cameroon                         aforementioned new developments of violent             equate strategies used by security forces to
                                                                                               political conflicts.                                   counter violent conflict. Heavy-handed military
     Lake Chad		    			                             Cameroon - Chad - Niger – Nigeria                                                                 responses, e.g. banning access to certain ar-
     Gabcikovo		    1998: 		                        Hungary - Slovakia...                      The third part will deal with the consequences         eas that were formerly used for fishing or cat-
                                                                                               of the Lake Chad water crisis. Special attention       tle herding, creates a situation in which people
                                                                                               will be paid to the negative effects that bad wa-      cannot rely on their former livelihoods.
                                                                                               ter management and conflict management can
     For historical reasons, instruments of                                                    have on conflict developments. The situation           When considering the direct and indirect ef-
     cooperative conflict settlement are                                                       at Lake Chad serves as an example to illustrate        fects of water scarcity in the Lake Chad Basin,
     not very well developed , especially in                                                   the cycle of water scarcity, misguided crisis          it becomes clear that these have negative im-
                                                                                               management, and negative impacts on de-                pacts on democracy and the cohesion of so-
     arid regions.                                                                             mocracy.                                               ciety in the Lake Chad Basin thus creating a
     Here, the right of the strongest was                                                                                                             new starting point for another deadly cycle of
     dominates in political relations.                                                         Since the 1970s, several droughts have hit Lake        violence.
                                                                                               Chad. More intensive agriculture, rapid popula-

                                       CHEIKH DIALLO                                                                            EMIL UNRATH, NIKOLAUS REEG

                                     Speciesanalytik, Senegal                                                      Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research, Germany
32                                                                                                                                                                                                        33
FUELLING FIRE WITH WATER:
                                                                                   Conflict Research -

        CONFLICT RESEARCH
                                                                                   The Heidelberg Approach

                                                                                   The Heidelberg Institute for International               results on all political conflicts occurring

        & LAKE CHAD CRISIS                                                         Conflict Research (HIIK) is a non-profit or-
                                                                                   ganization based at the Institute of Political
                                                                                   Science of the University of Heidelberg, and
                                                                                                                                            throughout the world in one calendar year.
                                                                                                                                            We refrain from any deeper analysis, limiting
                                                                                                                                            ourselves to neutral and verifiable observa-
                                                                                   is devoted to the research, documentation,               tions. Our basic research therefore serves as
                                                                                   and evaluation of intra- and interstate po-              a starting point for other scientists studying
                                                                                   litical conflicts. It continually updates and            the dynamics of collective violence.
     When was the last time you     The moment we turn on the news, watch          maintains the CONTRA database. The Insti-
                                    Netflix, play games, we often engage with      tute´s publication, the Conflict Barometer, is
       thought about war and                                                       produced annually and presents research
                                    violent content . But what do we actually
                     violence ?     know about these things? This poster shall
                                    give a (very) short overview of how we think
                                                                                   Do you know where conflicts of high intensity are happening ?
                                    about these matters. It will further make
                                    you familiar with intense water conflicts“,    Can you say which parties are fighting , and about what or why?
                                    which are often overlooked in the media.
                                                                                   A state usually has the monopoly on vio-                 NGO reports. Naturally, they focus on the
                                                                                   lence. This means that the police and mili-              reliability of the data presented, because, as
                                                                                   tary have the legal authority to force, or even          a famous quote has it: “The first casualty of
                                                                                   hurt, people to ensure that they abide by                war is truth”(origins dis puted). On the right,
                                                                                   the government‘s rules. Broadly speaking, if             below the world map, you can find a graph-
                                                                                   many people inside a country challenge this              ical representation of the findings of 2019.
                                                                                   authority, HIIK acknowledges this as a polit-            The “conflict type” denotes the structure of
                                                                                   ical conflict. The central questions are then,           a conflict. Are only non-state actors fighting
                                                                                   how do we assess conflicts and measure                   inside the same state (substate), two states
                                                                                   “violence”?                                              against each other (interstate), a state
                                                                                                                                            against a group inside its territory (intra-
                                                                                   HIIK has a unique approach which shall be                state), or one (or several) non-state actor(s)
                                                                                   briefly introduced here. A five-level scale              against several states (transstate)? This is an
                                                                                   shows the intensity of a conflict (see on                important distinction, because the conflict
                                                                                   the right), two of which signify non-violent             dynamics differ substantially between these
                                                                                   situations. The scale is computed by the                 types. The findings show a large number of
                                                                                   aggregated conflict measures of one cal-                 conflicts by conflict type. This corresponds
                                                                                   endar year. A conflict measure can con-                  with the conflict items; the most frequent
                                                                                   tain qualitative, as well as quantitative in-            and fiercest fighting has been about the dis-
                                                                                   dicators. These are conflict-related deaths,             tribution of power (inside) a state.
                                                                                   personnel, and internally displaced per-
                                                                                   sons or refugees (quantitative indicators),              For the specific conflict descriptions or a
                                                                                   and levels of destruction (of infrastructure,            deeper explanation of HIIK´s methodology,
                                                                                   housing, etc.) and weapon usage (quali-                  visit our website (hiik.de) or take a look at
                                                                                   tative indicators). Can you think of oth-                the Conflict Barometer 2019, which can be
                                                                                   er ways to measure collective violence?                  downloaded for free.

                                                                                   Around 200 conflict observers collect all
                                                                                   this information by having a look at open
                                                                                   source material, such as newspapers or

                                                                                                                       EMIL UNRATH, NIKOLAUS REEG

                                                                                                          Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research, Germany
34                                                                                                                                                                                            35
IMPROVEMENT OF                                                                                                                                                                3.2 Remote Sensing
                                                                                                                                                                                     Drought indices are calculated and

     DROUGHT MANAGEMENT                                                                                                                                                              mapped on the homepage, based on
                                                                                                                                                                                     satellite measurements. The most im-
                                                                                                                                                                                     portant variable is the soil moisture
                                                                                                                                                                                     from Sentinels. It makes the calculation
                                                                                                                                                                                     of different drought indices with soil
                                                                                                                                                                                     moisture involvement possible.

     1. INTRODUCTION
     The most general effect of the climate         According to the same models and sce-
     change on precipitation is the increas-        narios, precipitation will increase, but
     ing of intensity. This can lead to the re-     some other models and scenarios proj-                      Fig. 3: Map of the volunteers’ reports (droughtwatch.eu)
     duction of available water content even        ect decreasing precipitation. Increasing
     at those the places with an increas-           drought frequency, duration and severity
     ing quantity of precipitation. The Car-        are foreseen for the region.
     pathian basin is such a special place.

     2. Background
     The drought project was launched in the                                                                   4. Drought risk assessment
     framework of the Danube Transnation-
                                                                                                               Risk assessment and mapping of the                               The DriDanube project helped harmonize
     al Programme with the title: Drought Risk
                                                                                                               drought risk are the key parts of a suc-                         the drought risk calculation for the agri-
     in the Danube Region. 7 EU and 3 non-EU
                                                                                                               cessful drought risk-oriented manage-                            cultural sector and obtain insights into the
     countries took part in the project under
                                                                                                               ment process. As far as qualitative risk                         risk of loss of crop yield across the whole
     the leadership of ARSO/DMCSEE (Slo-
                                                                                                               definitions are the most accepted ones,                          region. Procedures implemented in the
     venia). New monitoring tools have been
                                                                                                               the practical realisation could be quite dif-                    software calculated the probability (fre-
     developed and introduced, drought risk
                                                                                                               ferent in different countries (or even within                    quency) of reduced crops, based on time
     assessment methodology and examples
                                                                                                               individuals countries), as has been shown                        series data and indicators of drought and
     have been created and a drought strategy
                                                                                                               by an appropriate questionnaire filled out                       non-drought years.
     has been set up in the scope of the project.
                                                                                                               by the participants of the project.                              Besides maps, results were presented in
                                                    Fig. 1: Participating countries in the DriDanube project
                                                                                                                                                                                the form of a matrix for four main regional
                                                                                                                                                                                crops (maize, wheat, rape and barley).

     3. Monitoring
     The is a Web-based interactive homep-
     age (droughtwatch.eu) for near-real-time
     drought monitoring through different
     drought indices and in-situ observations
     undertaken with new techniques. The ba-
     sic two information sources are as follows,
                                                                                                               Fig. 4: R
                                                                                                                        isk map for maize (period 5-7 months, drought probability 20%)
                                                                                                                       (Szentimrey, 2018)
     3.1 User Involvement
     Interaction with volunteer reporters has
     been set up. Reporters have to fill out a
     questionnaire on a weekly basis, and their
     result are collected and visualised on the     Fig. 2: Opening screen of the droughtwatch.eu page
     homepage.

36                                                                                                                                                                                                                              37
5. Drought Strategy
                 An optimal model of drought risk management
                 model was developed and a pilot project inves-
                                                                       SUSTAINABLE WASTEWATER
                 tigated its possible applicability in Serbia and
                 Hungary. The basic structure can be harmo-
                 nized, but the individual parts could be very dif-
                                                                      MANAGEMENT AND RESOURCE
                 ferent according to the different national gov-
                 ernmental structures. The most important part
                 of the management model is the determination
                                                                      RECOVERY SYSTEMS THROUGH
                 of appropriate measures in each drought devel-
                 opment phase. The suggested strategy contains
                 5 scale drought development and behaviour.
                                                                       NOVEL ANAEROBIC AND BIO-
                                                                      ELECTROCHEMICAL PROCESSES

                                                                       The Middle East Technical Universi-            In the Democratica - Aqua – Techni-
                                                                       ty (METU) is an international research         ca presentation, Assist. Prof. Yasemin
                                                                       university located in the capital of           Dilsad Yilmazel, Vice Chairperson of
                                                                       Turkey, Ankara. The Department of              the Department of Environmental En-
                                                                       Environmental Engineering was es-              gineering, focused on research con-
                                                                       tablished in January 1973 as the first         ducted by the Bioprocess Engineering
                                                                       department in an environmental engi-           Research Group (BioERG) at METU. The
                                                                       neering program in Turkey. Currently,          topics covered recent updates and
                                                                       our Department is operating with 12            research in her group on bioelectro-
                                                                       full-time faculty members conducting           chemical systems and novel anaerobic
     Fig. 5: Optimal Drought Management Model (ARSO/DMCSEE, 2019)
                                                                       research in many different areas of En-        systems that are used for waste treat-
                                                                       vironmental Engineering, such as water         ment. Her most recent research proj-
                                                                       resources management, solid waste              ects include a combination of anaer-
                                                                       management, mathematical model-                obic digestion-microbial electrolysis
                                                                       ling of environmental systems, biolog-         cells for improved methane produc-
                                                                       ical and physico-chemical wastewater           tion from animal wastes and the op-
                 6. Conclusion                                         treatment processes, biofuel genera-           eration of microbial electrolysis cells
                 Drought plays an increasing role in the Danube        tion and novel environmental biotech-          and dark fermentation for improved
                 catchment area. More successful actions re-           nology systems. The department fully           hydrogen production from renewable
                 quire a transnational approach and common             supports international collaboration           feedstocks.
                 measures, and should be based on harmonized           and has a large number of past col-
                 monitoring, information networks, risk assess-        laborations. For further information,
                 ment and drought management models. The               please go to the official website at
                 DriSanube project gives a good example of how
                                                                       https://enve.metu.edu.tr .
                 this can be done.

                                   SANDOR SZALAI                                                  YASEMIN DILSAD YILMAZEL

                                                                                                Middle East Technical University, Turkey
                             Szent Istvan University, Hungary
38                                                                                                                                                              39
WASTEWATER TREATMENT                                                           STEPS TOWARDS GREEN
      FROM NITROGEN COM-                                                                TECHNOLOGY
     POUNDS IN THE TRICKLING                                                                   UTILISATION OF NATURAL “LOW-COST“ COAGULANT

           BIOFILTER                                                                                      IN WASTEWATER TREATMENT

                                                                               Coagulation/flocculation (CF) is one of the                      is) were used for the production of natural
                                                                               most implemented technologies extensive-                         “low-cost“ coagulant. Two types of extraction
                  Water bodies are the basis of the environmental sa-          ly used in industrial-scale wastewater treat-                    processes were used, conventional solid/liq-
                  fety and comfort of the population living in cities and      ment. CF is based on the destabilisation of                      uid and ultrasound extraction, using distilled
                  towns. Availability of water and wastewater systems is       suspended and colloid particles in aquatic                       water and NaCl as extracting solutions. After
                  a mandatory element of a comfortable environment             meda that further leads to enhanced par-                         the extraction, the liquid extracts were dried
                  for human life. Wastewater treatment systems must            ticle agglomeration and precipitation. One                       at 120 °C, by a spray-drying process. The ob-
                  ensure the quality of the water in the water bodies.         downside of this process is that many com-                       tained powdered coagulants obtained were
                  This issue is as relevant for small towns as it is for big   mercial coagulants are themselves poten-                         tested in terms of turbidity, natural organic
                  cities.                                                      tially toxicants (e.g., aluminium, and ferrous                   matter, two NSAIDs (diclofenac and naprox-
                  In Russia, the norms for discharge into water bodies         salts and synthetic organic polymers), which                     en), arsenic, phosphorus and nickel removal.
                  do not vary depending on the amount of discharged            could cause environmental and health prob-                       Preliminary results showed a high potential
                  wastewater, unlike many other countries, particularly        lems. One possible solution might be the use                     for turbidity removal, but lower efficiencies in
                  those in the European Union.                                 of more sustainable coagulants of “green”                        terms of the removal of other pollutants with-
                  Thus, in Russia the issues of intensification of proces-     origin. Natural coagulants can be obtained                       in the applied working parameters. In future
                  ses of small capacity wastewater treatment plants are        from different plants, seeds, and crustaceans,                   work, optimisation of CF process parameters
                  especially important.                                        since these contain active compounds such                        and integration with other techniques (e.g.,
                                                                               as proteins and carbohydrates. In this work,                     adsorption) should be considered to achieve
                  The article describes effective wastewater treatment         common bean seeds (Phaseolus vulgar-                             higher removal efficiencies in these complex
                  technology from nitrogen compounds and phospho-
                  rus, methods of intensification of the biofilters. The
                  article shows the research results of the operation of
                  biofilters, and the analysis of different feeding mate-      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
                  rials. Along with the control reactors with the sanitary
                  and chemical analyses, the researchers implemented           This research has been supported by the In-                      cilitated study at the Environmental Research
                  regular monitoring of the microbiological investigati-       novation Fund, Republic of Serbia, ID 5156                       Institute in Scotland, provided by ERASMUS
                  ons of biomass, using light and electron microscopy.         through the project Proof of Concept, by the                     + Higher Education International Credit Mo-
                                                                               Ministry of Education, Science and Techno-                       bility - Project 2018-1_UK01-KA107-047241
                  The article considers the methodology of modelling           logical Development through the project no                       between North Highland College, Thurso and
                  processes of wastewater treatment in the biofilters:         451-03-68/2020-14/200156: “Innovative sci-                       the Faculty of Technical Sciences, University
                  laboratory models for hydraulic modelling and simu-          entific and artistic research from the FTS (ac-                  of Novi Sad, Serbia.
                  lation processes of denitrification-nitrification in the     tivity) domain“ and mobility funding which fa-
                  biofilters was developed. A mathematical model was
                  then developed.

                                                                                        SANJA RADOVIC,                               SABOLC PAP,
                                                                                                                                                                      JELENA PRODANOVIC
                                                                                       MAJA TURK-SEKULIĆ                          BARBARA BREMNER

                OLGA YANTSEN, ELENA GOGINA
                                                                                  University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Tech-   Environmental Research Institute,      University of Novi Sad, Faculty of
                                                                                  nical Sciences, Department of Envi-
                                                                                  ronmental Engineering and Occupa-          North Highland College, University    Technology Novi Sad, Bulevar Cara
           Moscow state university of civil engineering, Russia                   tional Safety and Health, Trg Dositeja     of the Highlands and Islands, Thur-   Lazara 1, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
                                                                                  Obradovića 6, 21 000 Novi Sad, Serbia      so, Scotland, KW14 7JD, UK
40                                                                                                                                                                                                       41
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