In cooperation with colleagues from MedUni Wien and Karl Landsteiner Universität Krems, an interactive stand was organized around the topic of “Drinking Water – Our No. 1 Food”.

Along three thematically linked stations the visitors were able to gain an insight into the ICC’s research activities as well as carry out experiments themselves and then put their gained knowledge to the test in a quiz.

The institute’s contribution consisted of a column experiment with different soil materials in which the infiltration of “rain” water into the subsurface through the various layers could be observed. Also, the water consumption of the average Austrian was illustrated using a cube of 130 Tetra Paks, which represented the 130 litres of water consumed.

In addition, our colleagues from MedUni showed a model of a UV disinfection system as it is used in drinking water treatment, as well as various bacterial strains in Petri dishes, which can be removed from the water using the aforementioned technology.

The stand was completed by KL Krems’ contribution about the chemical analysis of the origin of pollutants in water. With the “PCR game”, even the youngest visitors were able to assign water pollutants to their sources using genetic marker sequences.

We are happy about the great interest that all age groups showed in our stand at the Vienna Research Fair and are very appreciative of the many interesting questions and discussions!

Vienna Research Fair 2025, opens an external URL in a new window
ICC Water and Health, opens an external URL in a new window