W Water, Water Everywhere?

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ater covers 71% of the Earth’s surface and makes up 60% of the adult human body by mass. Although it is the basis for our very existence, too much of it can pose a lethal danger. That is why we have a deep-set fear of inundation, flash flooding, torrential rains. On the other hand, a shortage of water – especially clean water – puts the very survival of whole societies in jeopardy. Here, we might aptly quote the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous words: “Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink.” Indeed, along- side climate change and surging population numbers, ensuring access to clean water for every inhabitant of the globe is undoubtedly one of the most important challenges of the 21st century.

It poses a problem practically everywhere in the world, though the severity varies by region.

Europe, too, faces its own set of water-related threats.

Although water is virtually everywhere in the human experience, we still do not understand many processes related to it, and its extraordinary properties are the topic of much research.

One thing is certain, however – without it, life on Earth would not be possible in the first place.

This water-themed issue of Academia magazine has been inspired by fact that an extraordi- nary event – the 6th Europe Congress under the auspices of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR) – is being organized in Poland by the Polish Academy of Sciences, the PAS Institute of Geophysics, and the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW), slated to take place on 15‒18 February 2021. This issue proudly features articles by all the invited speakers of the congress. Other articles are written by outstanding Euro- pean and Polish scientists and scholars, across a broad range of disciplines. All of them have one fundamental thing in common: great passion for water.

Prof. Paweł M. Rowiński Vice President of the Polish Academy of Sciences

PIOTR LIGIER/POLISH NATIONAL MUSEUM IN WARSAW

Water, Water Everywhere?

Józef Chełmoński “Water Hen” 1894

from the collection of the Polish National Museum in Warsaw F R O M T H E E D I T O R S

1t h e m a g a z i n e o f t h e p a s 1/65/2020

issn 17338662

t h em a g a z i n eo ft h ep o l i s ha c a d e m yo fs c i e n c e s 2/66/2020

Water

PATRICK MEIRE BUILDING WITH NATURE PAWEŁ M. ROWIŃSKI NO FRAMES, NO BORDERS IAN GUYMER MODELLING MIXING MECHANISMS SILKE WIEPRECHT THE “DIRTY SECRETS”

OF RESERVOIRS

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o f t h e p o l i s h a c a d e m y

o f s c i e n c e s

nr 2/66/2020 Quarterly ISSN 17338662 900 copies printed

of Sciences, Office for Popularizing and Promoting Science PKiN, pl. Defilad 1 00-901 Warsaw, Poland

www.pan.pl www.academia.pan.pl

academia@pan.pl

e d i t o r i a l s t a f f

Jan Strelau Honorary Editor-in-Chief

Magdalena Prokopowicz Editor-in-Chief Krzysztof Kochanek

This Issue’s Expert Consultant Jolanta Iwańczuk

Earth Sciences Marcin Pietras Biological & Agricultural

Sciences Justyna Orłowska

Journalist Daniel Sax

Editor, English-Language

Version Andrzej Figatowski

Graphic Designer DG ART Agnieszka

Deluga-Góra Photo editing

s c i e n t i f i c c o u n c i l

Jerzy Duszyński President of the Polish

Academy of Sciences (Chairman) Stanisław Filipowicz

Roman Słowiński Grażyna Borkowska

Katarzyna Turnau Roman Micnas Witold Rużyłło Antoni Rogalski Henryk Szymczak

Translation by Sax Translations

Printed by Agencja Wydawniczo-

-Poligraficzna Gimpo