Water for life


Water is a basic prerequisite for the existence of life, an essential factor in the environment, a key natural resource, and an irreplaceable input in most economic branches. Any unsuitable intervention in the cycle or quality of water could cause a chain of serious consequences, which in extreme cases could end in the irreversible loss of some water resources. These resources are currently exposed to significant pressure due to ongoing climate change, unsuitable water management in the landscape, as well as the increasing amount of chemicals in the environment. As a result, it is highly unlikely that their abundance and quality will be preserved for future generations if the necessary measures are not implemented. For these reasons, an interdisciplinary, coordinated, and science-based approach to water management is highly important. The protection of water resources must be of primary interest to society, especially under the specific conditions in the Czech Republic.

Therefore, at the beginning of 2018, the Institute of Hydrodynamics of the CAS initiated the inclusion of the topic Water for life into the research programme of the Strategy AV 21 Natural threats. This topic was aimed at the complex and systematic research and cooperation between professionals and involved subjects in the field of protection and use of water resources, water supply and water quality preservation. The inseparable part of the project was the communication with the public that brought broadening the general knowledge of significance and state of water, use of the newest technologies and approaches allowing thoughtful treating water resources.   

Activities included in the topic Water for life were very successful and therefore, since 2020, Water for Life has become the individual research programme of the Strategy AV21 coordinated by the Institute of Hydrodynamics. Now, the research programme Water for Life has 5 own topics: Man and water, Water treatment technologyWater resources qualityWater in the landscape and Dangerous water. Within these topics, individual activities are realized at 11 institutes of the CAS.

What is STRATEGY AV21?

The mission of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) is top research focused on problems and challenges of contemporary society. Topics such as energetic future of the Czech Republic, health of its citizens, artificial intelligence, or quality of public policies present complex areas of problems whose solution requires a wide interdisciplinary research, both basic and applied.

The strategy of the Czech Academy of Sciences responds to current social challenges through a sophisticated formulation of research programmes, based on cooperation of scientific fields and institutions. The basic programme framework of the Strategy AV21 was accepted by the Academy Assembly in December 2014. The research programmes of the CAS are open to partners from universities, corporations, and institutions of regional administration, as well as foreign research groups and organisations. The research programmes are proposed and formulated in discussion of the leadership of the CAS with directors of the institutes with regard to trends in global science, social relevance of the research, and National Priorities of Oriented Research. The motto of the Strategy AV21 is „Top research in the public interest“.

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