Water

Water Quality at Europe's Bathing Sites – River Conditions Raise Questions
According to the European Environment Agency's 2025 report, the vast majority of the continent's bathing sites are safe, but river swimming remains the weakest link despite urban successes in Berlin and Budapest.

What Is Hydrogen Good For? – Industry, Energy, Transport
For decades, hydrogen has quietly kept heavy industry alive – now, through e-fuels and fuel cells, it is entering transport too.

The Paving-Everything Mania vs. the Sponge City
In these drought years, water retention has become a hot topic, but the discussion usually focuses only on the consequences of river regulation. Yet we also build our cities so that as little rain as possible can soak into the ground – which has local consequences too, such as heat stress.

How Is Hydrogen Made?
Steam methane reforming and coal gasification, then electrolysis in three ways – production methods differ widely in efficiency, CO₂ footprint and price per kilogram.

The Drying Continent
Data, causes and consequences from Central, Eastern and Southern Europe – the true face of a drying continent.

Europe's Managed Retreat
A new analysis shows that managed retreat is more common in Europe than previously thought, but most projects remain small, reactive and disconnected from wider climate adaptation strategies.

Microplastics in Hungarian Tap Water: How Bad Is It?
We already know how harmful micro- and nanoplastics are to human health, so the question comes up more and more often: how worried should we be about the drinking water that reaches us through the pipes?

Nano- and Microplastics – How Much Is Around Us?
Scientific data on the scale of microplastic pollution: how these particles get into our bodies from air, water and food – and what we can do about it.

Plastics That Penetrate Our Cells
Plastic is an integral part of modern industry and the economy, but it has a powerful impact on us and our environment. In the first part of our new series, we examine the causes and consequences of plastic production.

AI's Thirst for Water: Data Centres and Public Water Systems
According to a 2026 US study, American data centres could need new water capacity equal to New York City's entire daily supply by 2030 – with lessons that Europe cannot ignore.