This year’s World Water Day is being held under the slogan ‘Better water, better jobs’. In most cases, we associate water-related jobs with companies that manage water resources – but in reality, employment opportunities linked to water are very extensive. One area in which development and employment are also on the rise at the Slovenian Water Institute is undoubtedly the field of research into waste in water. To mark World Water Day, on Monday 21 March 2016 at 4.30 pm on Mestni trg, staff from the Slovenian Water Institute will be running a workshop with children – more information is available via the link.
The majority (80 per cent) of waste in water bodies consists of plastic waste, which degrades slowly and therefore remains in the environment for a long time. Almost 30 million tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans every year, where they break down into smaller particles. This is linked to research work (analysing the quantities and composition of macroplastics and microplastics, which is being carried out in Slovenia at the Slovenian Water Research Institute). A range of studies is currently underway to identify the most effective solutions for cleaning up the sea. Among other initiatives, Slovenia has already established the Coastal Sea Protection Service (SVOM), which uses an eco-friendly vessel to clean the coastline and the waters off the coast. At the Slovenian Water Research Institute, in collaboration with fishermen as part of the DeFishGear project, we collected almost 1 tonne of waste in just 14 months, which demonstrates the scale of the problem associated with marine litter and how important it is that we tackle this issue. Jobs related to the recycling of marine litter are also being developed. In Slovenia, the company Julon is a good example of best practice, as it recycles discarded fishing nets into new products.
The most effective measure is to reduce pollution – in other words, to prevent waste from entering our waters. Water covers around 70 per cent of our planet – and our lives depend on its quality. That is why, on World Water Day, we at the Slovenian Water Institute are calling on everyone to do their bit to help preserve our waters. We can do this by recycling waste, not littering in the countryside or flushing it down the toilet (as it ends up in sewage treatment plants). And if we spot litter by the water’s edge or in the water itself, every item we put in a bin counts.