Crawford Sarah E, Cofalla Catrina Brüll Nee, Aumeier Benedikt, Brinkmann Markus, Classen Elisa, Esser Verena, Ganal Caroline, Kaip Elena, Häussling Roger, Lehmkuhl Frank, Letmathe Peter, Müller Anne-Katrin, Rabinovitch Ilja, Reicherter Klaus, Schwarzbauer Jan, Schmitt Marco, Stauch Georg, Wessling Matthias, Yüce Süleyman, Hecker Markus, Kidd Karen A, Altenburger Rolf, Brack Werner, Schüttrumpf Holger, Hollert Henner
Institute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management, RWTH Aachen University, Mies van der Rohe-Straße 17, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
Environ Sci Eur. 2017;29(1):23. doi: 10.1186/s12302-017-0121-1. Epub 2017 Jul 10.
Protecting our water resources in terms of quality and quantity is considered one of the big challenges of the twenty-first century, which requires global and multidisciplinary solutions. A specific threat to water resources, in particular, is the increased occurrence and frequency of flood events due to climate change which has significant environmental and socioeconomic impacts. In addition to climate change, flooding (or subsequent erosion and run-off) may be exacerbated by, or result from, land use activities, obstruction of waterways, or urbanization of floodplains, as well as mining and other anthropogenic activities that alter natural flow regimes. Climate change and other anthropogenic induced flood events threaten the quantity of water as well as the quality of ecosystems and associated aquatic life. The quality of water can be significantly reduced through the unintentional distribution of pollutants, damage of infrastructure, and distribution of sediments and suspended materials during flood events. To understand and predict how flood events and associated distribution of pollutants may impact ecosystem and human health, as well as infrastructure, large-scale interdisciplinary collaborative efforts are required, which involve ecotoxicologists, hydrologists, chemists, geoscientists, water engineers, and socioeconomists. The research network "project house water" consists of a number of experts from a wide range of disciplines and was established to improve our current understanding of flood events and associated societal and environmental impacts. The concept of project house and similar seed fund and boost fund projects was established by the RWTH Aachen University within the framework of the German excellence initiative with support of the German research foundation (DFG) to promote and fund interdisciplinary research projects and provide a platform for scientists to collaborate on innovative, challenging research. Project house water consists of six proof-of-concept studies in very diverse and interdisciplinary areas of research (ecotoxicology, water, and chemical process engineering, geography, sociology, economy). The goal is to promote and foster high-quality research in the areas of water research and flood-risk assessments that combine and build off-laboratory experiments with modeling, monitoring, and surveys, as well as the use of applied methods and techniques across a variety of disciplines.
在水质和水量方面保护我们的水资源被视为21世纪的重大挑战之一，这需要全球和多学科的解决方案。特别是，水资源面临的一个具体威胁是由于气候变化导致洪水事件的发生频率增加，这对环境和社会经济产生了重大影响。除了气候变化之外，土地利用活动、水道阻塞、洪泛区城市化，以及采矿和其他改变自然水流状态的人为活动，可能会加剧洪水（或随后的侵蚀和径流），或者导致洪水发生。气候变化和其他人为引发的洪水事件威胁着水的数量以及生态系统和相关水生生物的质量。在洪水事件期间，污染物的意外扩散、基础设施的损坏以及沉积物和悬浮物的分布，会显著降低水质。为了理解和预测洪水事件及相关污染物分布如何影响生态系统、人类健康以及基础设施，需要大规模的跨学科合作努力，其中涉及生态毒理学家、水文学家、化学家、地球科学家、水利工程师和社会经济学家。“水项目之家”研究网络由来自广泛学科的众多专家组成，其设立目的是增进我们目前对洪水事件及其相关社会和环境影响的理解。项目之家以及类似的种子基金和促进基金项目的概念，是由亚琛工业大学在德国卓越计划框架内、德国研究基金会（DFG）的支持下设立的，旨在促进和资助跨学科研究项目，并为科学家提供一个平台，以便他们就创新且具有挑战性的研究展开合作。水项目之家由六个概念验证研究组成，涉及非常不同的跨学科研究领域（生态毒理学、水与化学过程工程、地理学、社会学、经济学）。目标是促进和推动水研究及洪水风险评估领域的高质量研究，这些研究将实验室外实验与建模、监测和调查相结合，并运用各种学科的应用方法和技术。
