Water quality

We need to improve our understanding of the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in surface waters, particularly downstream of urban waste water treatment plants. However, at present there is no European overview of the presence of AMR in surface waters. This project will develop a basic approach and methodology for a European scale AMR monitoring of surface waters.

How are northern ecosystems affected by climate change, and how do different ecosystems affect each other? This 5-year Fram Centre research program aims to provide critical new knowledge related to: (1) Cross-ecosystem climate change impacts; and (2) How to best integrate cross-ecosystem linkages into cohesive management approaches.

The programme collects monitoring data from approximately 20 countries in Europe and North America to monitor and investigate the extent to which air pollution affects lakes and rivers, particularly regarding acidification, heavy metals and pollutants.

Together with NIBIO, we carry out operational monitoring of rivers and lakes in the Morsa water area (Vansjø-Hobølvassdraget).

MULTISOURCE is an EU-funded project that will facilitate the systematic, city-wide planning of nature-based solutions for urban water treatment, storage, and reuse. Through seven technical pilots across Europe and USA, a wide range of urban waters will be treated throughout the project, while decision support tools will be co-designed together with local, national, and international stakeholders. NIVA and the City of Oslo together with 18 other partners are working on the treatment and reuse of urban stormwater using nature-based treatment solutions. The Norwegian pilot treats road runoff from Tåsenveien.

Optimal strategies to retain and re-use water and nutrients in small agricultural catchments across different soil-climatic regions in Europe.

PAIRWISE aims to advance knowledge of antimicrobial resistance as a pollution in aquatic environments, wildlife, and livestock. PAIRWISE focuses on dispersal and dynamics of antibiotic resistant bacteria, antibiotic resistance genes and antibiotics in aquatic environments affected by wastewater treatment plants.

This project is a bilateral cooperation between research institutions in the three Baltic states and the Norwegian Institute for Water Research on lake restoration.

Increasing water scarcity is one of the biggest challenges worldwide. The reuse of the effluents of wastewater treatment plants constitutes a significant and constantly available water resource that can be used for purposes such as irrigation. However, municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants face an increasing amount of emerging pollutants.

SIREN (Integrated system for simultaneous recovery of energy, organics and nutrients and generation of valuable products from municipal wastewater) will develop a system that recovers energy, organics and nutrients from municipal wastewater while simultaneously generating valuable products.

The purpose of the river monitoring program is to calculate inputs of nutrients and pollutants to Norwegian marine areas through monitoring of rivers and modeling of inputs from areas without monitoring.

The WatRes project investigates the occurrence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic-resistance genes from the Hias wastewater treatment plant to Lake Mjøsa, a main source of drinking water and irrigation.

Ecosystem monitoring in large lakes (ØKOSTOR): The program consists of monitoring of large and significant water bodies and boundary waters.

The section for catchment biogeochemistry works to understand how various pollutants are spread in the environment and how they affect the water quality in rivers, lakes, and fjords. Our studies lay the foundation for and support political guidelines and improvements to reduce unwanted environmental impacts. 

The section employs observational, experimental, and modeling approaches to further our understanding of physical, chemical, biological, and biogeochemical processes and services of the marine environment.