Retaining the refreshing splash: year 2003 has been declared the International Year of Fresh Water by the United Nations. Alexander Zehnder, Director EWAG, draws interesting similes and raises questions of international interest.

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Retaining the refreshing splash: year 2003 has been declared the International Year of Fresh Water by the United Nations. Alexander Zehnder, Director EWAG, draws interesting similes and raises questions of international interest.

Water has been a recurrent element in the life of Alexander Zehnder, who, today, is the Director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG) in Zurich.

During the summers of his childhood nothing was more natural than a daily swim in the biggest lake bordering Switzerland. At school be was fascinated by the demonstration of boiling liquids that his chemistry teachers would produce in class. He was equally enthralled by the world of plants and biology became his second favourite subject. When he moved to the ETH in Zurich, he combined both subjects and finished with a master's degree in biochemistry. Ho...

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