L’humain à l’eau: Human impact on water management and pollution
Our planet’s vital water resources are significantly affected by climate change and pollution generated by human activities with dramatic consequences on health and ecosystems. This conference will highlight humans’ impact on water resources: from water management challenges to water contamination with microplastics, PFAS (aka “forever chemicals”) as well as heavy metals and organic pollutants.
Understanding the cycle of water and its pollutants, from their production to dispersion in the environment and their impact on biodiversity, is therefore of prime key scientific and regulatory importance.
23 aPril :
08:45-09:00 Opening by Philippe Augé, president of the University of Montpellier
Introduction by Patrick Caron (Director of MAK’IT) & Charlotte Boullé (in charge of training programmes at ExposUM)
09:00-09:20 Introduction by the scientific committee: Ramia Al Bakain (The University of Jordan), Patrick Allard (UCLA), Filomena Silva (ARAID).
09:20-10:00
Keynote lecture: Restore the health of our water – Eric Servat (Director of ICIREWARD – International Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Water Systems Dynamics)
10:20-12:30 Session 1 : Plastics in our waters: concerns and future-facing solutions
- Plastics problematic in the Mediterranean Sea (Beyond Plastic Med)
- Micro/nanoplastics: their toxicity in marine organisms and innovative solutions – Miguel Oliveira (Centre for Marine and Environmental Studies – CESAM)
- Biocatalytic membranes for micro/nano plastic degradation within wastewater effluents – Jonas Gurauskis (Aragonese Foundation for Research & Development-ARAID)
- Round Table: Towards a more sustainable plastic world: natural recyclability and technical recyclability to reduce plastic pollution, with Lucille Chatellard (UMR IATE, University of Montpellier), Nathalie Gontard (UMR IATE, INRAE), Cristina Nerín (Emeritus professor, University of Zaragoza), Vincent Colard (Director of R&D Materials, CITEO) – moderated by Gilles Pradeau (MAK’IT)
12:30-14:00 Lunch
14:00-16:30 Session 2: Water scarcity management: sustainable approach and pilot projects
Introduction – Mouïn Hamzé (Scientific advisor of CIHEAM Bari): Water and Climate Change: Challenges for the Mediterranean Agricultural and Food Systems
- Panel 1 Water Management : Scarcity, Pollution, and Impact on Climate Change
- Water resources scarcity due to global change. Challenges and solutions – Patrick Lachassagne (HydroSciences Montpellier, IRD)
- Chemical diversity and the role of analytical capabilities in characterizing water contamination – Elena Gomez (HydroSciences Montpellier, University of Montpellier)
- Evaluation of emerging contaminant removal processes during artificial recharge through a reactive barrier: from laboratory experiments to field application – Geoffroy Duporte (HydroSciences Montpellier, University of Montpellier)
- Panel 2 Research, Innovation and Geopolitical Challenges of Water in the Mediterranean Region
- Research and innovation to face challenges on Climate Change and its impact in the food system of the Mediterranean region – Giuseppe Provenzano (Higher Education and Research Division, Union for the Mediterranean)
- Adapting treated wastewater reuse face to global and climate changes in water scarcity regions: experience of groundwater artificial recharge and irrigation in Tunisia – Fethi Laachal (Water Research and Technology Centre, CERTE)
- Water Reuse in Algerian Oasis Region: Institutional Management Bottlenecks and Demonstration of Operational Feasibility – Nassim Ait Mouheb (UMR G-EAU, INRAE)
16:30-17:30 Cocktail party
24 aPril :
09:00-12:00 Session 3: Our future with ‘forever’ contaminants
- Overview and update on PFAS chemicals and their toxicity – Sue Fenton (Director of the Center for Human Health and the Environment, North Carolina State University)
- Prevalence of PFAS in the ecosystem – Mathieu Ben Braham (Générations futures)
- PFAS in Europe, water, and regulation – Jelena Prtorić (Journalist, Troubled-Waters.eu Project)
- A contaminated future? The concerns of the environment and the epigenome – Giacomo Cavalli (Institut de génétique humaine, CNRS)