Knowledge Day Pharmaceuticals

Pharmaceutical residues in water are a hot topic in the discussions on the water cycle in the Netherlands. Both Dutch citizens, water boards and politicians have expressed their concerns about the presence of pharmaceuticals in drinking and surface waters and about their potential risks for human health and the environment. The problem has multiple angles and interventions throughout the entire chain will be needed to come to sustainable solutions. One of the issues that has not yet received sufficient attention is the removal of pharmaceuticals from wastewater.

Together with STOWA (the Foundation for Applied Water Research) and the department of Environmental Technology of Wageningen University & Research, LeAF organised the Knowledge Day Pharmaceuticals focussing on recent developments in the area of removal of pharmaceuticals from Dutch wastewaters.

Over forty participants joined in the first Knowledge Day on December 1st 2016. The day started off with presentations on the political and legislative aspects of the topic and was continued by zooming in on technologies under development at pilot- and lab-scale. Communication between scientists, policy makers and consultants was facilitated via interactive and engaging sessions and a challenging pharmaceutical quiz.

Because of the overwhelming interest in the topic and the positive responses from the participants, a second day with similar content and character is being prepared. STOWA will again financially support the event, which will take place on February 16 2017 in Wageningen and will be offered in Dutch. Interested to join? You can register here.