“Water technologies from Germany are in demand around the world.” This statement comes from someone who really ought to know what he's talking about: Stephan Köster works at the Institute of Environmental Engineering (ISA) at RWTH Aachen University. The makers of the German Pavilion sought the advice of the highly qualified specialist engineer to select the water technologies in their exhibition. The exhibits that can be seen in the water landscape of the German Expo Pavilion give an impression of the innovative force of German water technology. Some of them are also especially suited for developing and newly industrialized countries. From improving the quality of drinking water to the treatment of waste water, Expo visitors learn how the drinking water supply of a big city functions, how water can be re-used in the household and how ultraviolet light purifies water. The exhibits form a cross-section of German industry and present new technologies that are already on the market. The exhibition set one goal for all the exhibits: the water technologies are meant to become an experience.
01
A Bright Idea
Drinking water purification with the aid of diamond-coated electrodes: it's an innovative process that experts believe has considerable potential. Using a hand-cranked electricity generator, visitors to the German Pavilion can set the technology in motion: a spark ignites the diamond electrode, an oxidation process is initiated, the cleaning process begins. Developed by the Condias company, a spin-off from the Fraunhofer Institute, this system eliminates organic contaminants in the water – without chemicals. The technology effectively eliminates undesired substances in drinking water, such as pesticides and drug residues.
02
Environmentally Friendly Solution
Small treatment units dispose of waste water by biological means: whether toilet, shower or washing machine, households produce waste water that has to be disposed of. Unfortunately, not all private households – for example, in rural regions – have direct access to the public sewer system. Yet even then there are environmentally friendly solutions: small purification plants. They play an important role in Germany. Units like those from the Hans Huber company work according to the same principles as large-scale purification plants with several chambers. What is more, biological water treatment is effective and produces good results.
03
Watering Plants with Shower Water
Why not use water twice? This is the idea behind the Aquacycle technology that reprocesses slightly soiled waste water – produced in private households, for example, by the washing machine or dishwasher – for re-use. The recycling installation from the Pontos company cleans the water – for instance, from showering – using a mechanical-biological method without chemical additives. The clean water produced by this means is not drinking water quality, but it can be used for many purposes – for flushing the toilet, in the washing machine, for cleaning or to water the plants in the garden.
04
Intelligent Drinking Water Production
Nearly natural process: Kompetenzzentrum Wasser Berlin and Berliner Wasserbetriebe are presenting a technology that explains the city's drinking water system. Berlin draws its drinking water, 400 million litres a day, exclusively from water resources located inside the city limits – a unique situation worldwide. The drinking water is mainly extracted by bank filtration from the Spree and other rivers. The water is naturally filtered in the ground. Bank filtration is a favourable technique for drinking water extraction if there is insufficient real groundwater available.
05
Ultraviolet Light Purifies Water
An alternative to water sterilization with chemicals is the Munich-based Osram company's disinfection technique using ultraviolet light. This classic method is currently enjoying something of a renaissance. The water flows through a container containing a UV light source and is disinfected solely by the power of light. The energy of the UV light destroys the cell structure of bacteria – and they die off.
06
German Water Landscapes
Water regions and towns: this panoramic projection doesn’t show technologies for purifying or treating water. It is purely concerned with the aesthetic side of the precious liquid – with water landscapes in Germany. On a large screen the German National Tourist Board (DZT) is displaying interesting tourist regions and towns in Germany whose special appeal stems from their association with water. The journey outlined by the film projection leads from Lake Constance along the Rhine to the North Sea, shows a wintry Baltic Sea coast and a summer evening on Hamburg’s Binnenalster. It’s water to enjoy.
07
Energy from Waste Water
Combining waste water treatment and energy production: the City of Wolfsburg’s sewage plants apply an interesting technique. Instead of simply pouring treated sewage into a river, they process it for further use. In Zaragoza, specialists from Wolfsburg will be presenting a model of the technology they use to produce energy. How does it work? Waste water treatment at the sewage plant produces irrigation water for agricultural use, water for artificial groundwater replenishment and also fermentation gas. This biogas can then be used for environmentally friendly energy production.
08
International Cooperation for Clean Water
German development cooperation attaches great significance to water: that is illustrated by three pumps at the German Expo Pavilion. When you turn them on, you start a film in the water bowls that serve as screens and can see concrete development projects that demonstrate how Germany is actively supporting sustainable water supplies and waste water treatment.
09
Improving Groundwater Quality
Groundwater early warning system: Sensatec from Kiel illustrates the important task of preventive groundwater control in a graphic way. After all, groundwater is the most important resource in drinking water production. The displayed microbiological technology is based on a natural process to improve drinking water quality. A network of fine sensors embedded in the ground monitors the microbiological process in the soil and in the groundwater. In the process, the sensors also function as an early warning system if there is a danger of any contamination of the natural water store.
10
Intelligent Rainwater Filtering
Very simple, but highly effective: that’s how you can describe the technology of the rainwater treatment filter. Because rainwater that runs off roads and industrial premises contains a huge variety of dirt particles, it must be treated before it can be released into rivers or lakes. This is precisely where the technology from 3P Technik Filtersysteme being shown in the German Pavilion aims to help: polluted rainwater is not first painstakingly collected and then cleaned in a large basin, but caught and filtered immediately where it is produced. Clean water can then be directly fed into water courses.
11
How Laws Protect Water
A German water protection success story is described in a multimedia law book the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) is taking to the Expo. Its three chapters give visitors an impression of how seriously environmental pollution threatened Germany’s waterways – and how they were saved by effective environmental legislation. The concrete examples of Lake Constance, the Elbe and the metropolitan region of Berlin illustrate how serious environmental problems that threatened drinking water supplies were eventually overcome. The book also describes the legislation governing water pollution control in the EU as well as in Germany.
12
Worldwide Disaster Relief
The Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) is deployed worldwide: its support is often needed after serious storms, earthquakes or floods. Water supplies for the local population frequently break down completely in the wake of natural disasters of this kind. THW experts have specialized in restoring water purification processes as fast as possible. The exhibition shows films about THW missions in Southeast Asia, Uganda and New Orleans. Additionally, visitors can also see important THW equipment for emergency missions – for example, a mobile water laboratory.
13
Effective Mobile Equipment
It is extremely useful in emergencies and can be swiftly deployed worldwide: Kärcher’s water purification equipment is a great help when natural disasters destroy infrastructure and drinking water is in short supply. This mobile installation filters dangerous substances from the water and makes it possible to temporarily secure a basic supply of clean groundwater where it is most urgently needed – in hospitals or schools. The THW and other relief agencies have supplied drinking water to countless people in the course of emergency relief missions.
14
Water Music and Eloquent Poetry
Enjoy a totally new kind of sound experience: after so much technology, it’s the turn of the arts. The German Pavilion has 14 “sound showers” from the Hansgrohe company that certainly have a surprise effect. After all, who would expect to hear the sounds of music and poetry coming from shower heads? Against a backdrop of German water landscapes, visitors can enter the sound showers, sit down and hear how the sounds of different musical instruments flow together to form an orchestra. Well-known poems also sound from some of the showers, odes with a water theme like Heinrich Heine’s famous elegy about the mermaid Loreley on the cliff above the Rhine.
Technology Links
More information about the technologies shown at the German Expo Pavilion is available on the Internet:
02 www.huber.de
05 www.osram.de
06 www.deutschland-tourismus.de
08 www.bmz.de
