Time to clean up the lake!

Last Friday Akademiska Hus hosted an opening ceremony for the new decks down at the campus lake “sjön Sjön”. I have to say it looks fantastic. Thank you!

Along with Helsingkrona’s new building, it feels like the engineering campus has been given a considerable face lift. In my short speech during the ceremony I mentioned that back when I started at the Faculty of Engineering LTH in the early 80’s, the lake was a bit of a pit. When I, during my short time as LTH Inspector in 2014, took part in the regatta, it was plain to see that is still partly the case. The new decks are great, but the water itself leaves something to be desired. The role of Inspector involves tasting the water, and I must admit that I cheated, having been warned by a student who had previously analysed samples from the lake and said it was a health risk! That more students do not get sick (or maybe they do?) is a miracle.

At the Faculty of Engineering we have several research groups focusing on different aspects of water treatment and purification. We also have a number of companies in our network that specialise in this area. I mentioned at a management team meeting last spring that we should clean up the water in sjön Sjön, and after that the rumour spread that I wanted to make the water drinkable. We might not get as far as that, but at least to make sure it doesn’t pose a health risk during freshers’ week. Can we not try to make sjön Sjön into a living lab for our students who are working on these issues? Apparently there are some poor carp fish swimming around in the sludge. Can we not try to give them a more tolerable environment to live in?

Who will take on this task? I am sure we have researchers and alumni who would be willing and able to help. We could, for example, build a small experimental treatment plant our students could do their labs in. Perhaps there are plants that could help? I’m not much help, with my electronics background, but I am sure the knowledge exists within the faculty and its network.

One small step that I think could be a great visibility project for the Faculty of Eningeering LTH!

Viktor Öwall
Dean of the Faculty of Engineering LTH