In order to draw attention to the critical importance of effective management of water, one of the most precious resources of our planet, for a sustainable future, a special event was organized within the scope of World Water Day 2025 with the theme “Future Water Technologies: CNR-ITM’s Contributions”. The event, organized in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Erkan Şahinkaya from the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences of our University and Prof. Dr. Gökçen Çapar from Ankara University Water Management Institute, was held on March 20, 2025 at the Institute of Membrane Technology (ITM-CNR) in Italy.
In the event where scientific solutions to the global water crisis were discussed, ITM-CNR Director Dr. Alberto Figoli, Research Director Dr. Lidietta Giorno and senior researcher Dr. Francesca Macediono shared the latest developments on water treatment and sustainable environmental solutions with our faculty members. In the session, which was broadcast live on Youtube, information was exchanged with valuable academicians on innovative membrane technologies and the future of water.
Prof. Dr. Alberto Figoli stated that World Water Day, which was declared by the United Nations in 1993 to draw attention to the importance of water, supports Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals titled “Clean Water and Sanitation”. He stated that the theme of this year’s World Water Day is “ Glacier Preservation ” and that it is important to bring up the role of clean water, prevention of water waste and protection of water resources on this day. In the continuation of his speech, Figoli gave information about ITM-CNR, which specializes in membrane technologies, especially for the treatment and reuse of water.
Speaking about the use of membrane technologies in water-related fields, Dr. Lidietta Giorno explained the basic working principle of these technologies and emphasized that membrane technologies offer innovative solutions, especially in the treatment of wastewater and desalination of seawater. Dr. Giorno also gave information about ITM-CNR’s research on membrane technologies and the projects they have carried out with different countries.
Addressing the role of membrane technologies as one of the innovative technologies that humanity needs to address major environmental challenges such as climate crisis and water scarcity that threaten our planet, Dr. Francesca Macediono underlined that in order to find a solution to the world’s clean drinking water problem, the amount of brine produced in brine treatment processes should be reduced as much as possible. Stating that newly developed membrane technologies such as membrane distillation offer important solutions in this regard, Macediono said that currently, half a liter of drinking water can be obtained from 1 liter of seawater with the reverse osmosis system, but the remaining half liter of salty water is discard to the environment, which poses a significant problem. Similarly, she stated that wastewater streams cannot be treated by reverse osmosis due to the high concentration rate; in this context, membrane distillation method, which is not limited by concentration and polarization phenomena, can reuse the water that has to be discharged to the environment in other methods.
Watch the rest of this seminal discussion on water management and technologies here.
