EUTOPIA_HEALTH Science Cafe in Ljubljana: Caring for drinking water is common concern for all

The Science Cafe ‘What's in our glasses’ hosted by the University of Ljubljana on September 10 2025 was the third in a series of public events organised by the EUTOPIA_HEALTH project, which aims to bring science closer to citizens and industry by involving the public in research processes and encouraging cooperation between academic institutions, companies and communities. The project seeks to build bridges between scientific knowledge and the real needs of people and industry in order to accelerate the application of innovation and improve the quality of life in society. 

At the Science Cafe event, which aimed to transfer knowledge about drinking water from academia to the public, we explored how drinking water is produced, the factors that influence it, and how individuals can improve water quality. We also discussed how to better inform the public about the state of their local drinking water.

Prof. Dr. Barbara Hribar Lee and Prof. Dr. Alenka Žgajnar Gotvajn (UL FKKT) presented the technological process of drinking water preparation in their introductory lecture Clean Water: From Natural Resource to Engineering Product. They pointed out that although the right to water is enshrined in numerous documents, its provision also depends on industry and agriculture: the biggest challenge today is micro-pollutants and their timely detection.  

Among the micropollutants in drinking water, plastic certainly stands out as the material most closely associated with the Anthropocene epoch. Dr. Manca Kovač Viršek from National Institute for Biology (NIB) has been researching microplastics for several years and highlighted the large quantities of water that need to be examined for microplastic analysis in a given water area as a major challenge of this research.  

Dr. Brigita Jamnik, director of VOKA Snaga, the company responsible for the largest drinking water area in Slovenia, presented the activities that the company carries out to ensure drinking water in Ljubljana and some nearby towns. The company ensures the quality of drinking water through its own controls, while also being subject to external controls by the National Laboratory for Health, Environment and Food (NZLOH).   

Leon Mislej from the Youth for Climate Justice Association presented water conservation from the perspective of individual measures that each person can take to improve water quality in their environment, with advocacy also playing an important role.