The first part of the meeting was accompanied by lectures regarding water quality as well as scientific and teaching activities of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy and the Student Scientific Club of Hydrologists and Hydrotechnicians. Crowds of "night owls," in the amount of about 100 people, visited the Institute of Environmental Engineering after dark. The event was held after dark because the demonstration in the laboratory required darkness. Despite the evening hours, the prepared lectures and experiments received a lot of attention, both from invited Wrocław high school students and students of our University.
World Water Day 2023
Every year on March 22, World Water Day is celebrated around the world. The United Nations established this celebration in 1992 during a conference called the "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro. Its aim was to inspire action in line with the slogan "Water and sanitation for all by 2030."
This year's celebration was held under the theme "Accelerating change" and intended to draw attention to the need to increase efforts to solve the water and wastewater crisis. This year is special because on March 24 at the United Nations headquarters in New York ended the first UN Water Conference in 50 years, which aimed to adopt the Water Action Agenda. Anyone could have submitted their idea for future activities. Of course, the UN's financial and organizational support will concern those ideas that can significantly contribute to improving the situation of the global water crisis. As of today, 708 initiatives have been published on the UN website, of which 27 were submitted by Poland or included our country as a partner.
But back to our university...
First part of the event
Participants of the lecture held in the darkened room IIM were welcomed by the video entitled "Laminar-Turbulent Flow," with production, editing and sounding done by the organoleptically gifted doctoral student Jan Błotnicki, M.Eng. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fZlyO7KeMk). The celebration began with lectures prepared by invited academics from the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences. The first speaker was Assoc. Prof. Dr. Robert Głowski - Vice-Dean of Environmental Engineering and Water Engineering and Management fields of study, who presented a lecture titled "Problems of Water Engineering."
Then CEO Marcelina Strup presented the activities of the Student Scientific Club of Hydrologists and Hydrotechnicians, which, together with Dr. Maciej Gruszczyński, was the organizer of this event.
The subsequent lectures covered the following topics: "Eutrophication of
Water Bodies as a Worldwide Problem" presented by Dr. Paweł Tomczyk and "Methods of Treating Water Bodies" by Dr. Łukasz Gruss from the Institute of Environmental Engineering.
Second part of the event
The main idea of the "Black Light on the River" show was to demonstrate the spread of pollutants in the flow of the Oder River. The assumption was that sewage is discharged into the river as a result of an accident (theoretical, of course!!) in the area of the Grunwald Bridge. The stage for this drama was the physical model of the Wrocław Hydrotechnical System located in the Water Laboratory. Thanks to the use of ultraviolet light and fluorescent dye, extraordinary effects were achieved. The spectacular nature of the show involved visualizing the spread of dye, simulating pollution in the Oder River flow. The fluorescent dye used was illuminated with ultraviolet light and emitted a bright green light, making it perfectly visible in the darkened laboratory. The crowd of visitors eager to see this spectacular effect exceeded our expectations, so the experiment was repeated at the special request of students from Wrocław High School No. 13. Repeating the experience allowed our guests to take epic photos and videos that today's social media could not do without.
“The demonstration in the laboratory was accompanied by two groans and one collective sigh. The first groan was definitely a sound of anxiety, released by our guests as we turned off the lights in the lab and it was pitch black. A sigh of admiration escaped our audience when the first drop of fluorescein flashed with a bright green light in the Oder River. An audible groan of disappointment was collectively let out by our visitors as the laboratory light turned on, announcing the end of this evening's experiments,” says Dr. Maciej Gruszczyński, head of the Water Laboratory.
Those who were not there and did not see it have something to regret. But do not worry - the Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy, the Water Laboratory of the Institute of Environmental Engineering and the Student Scientific Club of Hydrologists and Hydrotechnicians would like to invite you to the next show. More information coming soon!
