Science at UM [S02-ep18]: From Water to Early Childhood

[Podcast] - Published on March 16, 2023 in Science and Society

This week at UM, science is getting a head start on World Water Day. Julie Mendret, a researcher at the European Institute of Membranes talks to us about Reuse, and Omar Samhari welcomes us for a report at the membrane filtration hall, also atIEM. At the end of the program, Brahim Azaoui, associate professor at the Faculty of Education, introduces the study days: Early Childhood: Languages, Multimodality, and Multilingualism taking place in Montpellier from March 15 to 18.

To start with, here’s a figure: 32. That’s the number of consecutive days without rain that France experienced between January and February. A dismal record, according to Météo France, which had never recorded such a streak since measurements began in 1959. In the Eastern Pyrenees, the situation is so concerning that last February, the prefecture decided to place all of its municipalities on “enhanced alert.” In other words, water is being reserved for uses deemed “essential”—meaning no more swimming pools, car washing, or stadium irrigation. This drought comes amid a context where water shortages have been recurring since August 2021, but more importantly, it occurs in the middle of winter—a period when groundwater levels normally recharge and reach their peak. Admittedly, rain has been falling again for the past few days, but it is unclear whether this will be enough to prevent the Pyrénées-Orientales from reaching the final threshold—the “crisis” level—where water use would be strictly limited to drinking water supply and uses related to“hygiene, health, and safety.”  Faced with this issue, other countries have taken the lead, particularly in the Global South. For years, they have been focusing not on rain dances but on reuse, or REUT in French. Julie Mendret is our guest. She is a researcher atthe European Membrane Institute(IEM) and a specialist in reuse.

In the second part of the program, we remain at the European Institute of Membranes, specifically in the membrane filtration hall—a facility where various filtration techniques can be implemented, ranging from bench-top scale to pre-industrial units. Omar Samhari, a postdoctoral researcher atIEM , showsIEM how to desalinate seawater to make it drinkable using reverse osmosis. 

Finally, our last-minute guest is from the School of Education. Brahim Azaoui is a lecturer, and he’s here to talk to us about the symposium titled “Early Childhood: Languages, Multimodality, and Multilingualism,” organized at UM in collaboration with the University of Le Mans and the AFalaC association from March 15 to 18.

 Program and Registration

At UM Science, the program is ready to go!

Co-production: DivergenceFM / University of Montpellier
Host: LucieLecherbonnier
Interview: Lucie Lecherbonnier / Aline Périault
Reporting and editing: Aline Périault
Director: Naomi Charmetan

Tune in to the show “A l’UM la science” on Divergence FM 93.9

Keywords: Science at UM