October 07, 2009

Blowing them out of the water

In cooperation with the Freiherr-vom-Stein Secondary School in Leverkusen, LANXESS organised a project week on the topic of water
Leverkusen – water is the source of all life. And it is becoming increasingly precious as consumption and the world population are rising steadily. In order to teach young people how to use this essential resource wisely at an early age, LANXESS AG is supporting ecological education. In cooperation with the Freiherr-vom-Stein Secondary School in Leverkusen, the specialty chemicals group organised a project week on the topic of water at its production site for ion exchange resins.

Just as in Bitterfeld, Krefeld and most recently Cologne over the last few weeks, the objective of the water project week was to raise awareness regarding the use of (drinking) water among the girls and boys as well as developing innovative project concepts to lower water consumption. In an initial step, 31 participating grade eight students analysed where water is used, how much is available as drinking water and how much water they consume themselves.

In order to demonstrate to the students what is already possible from both a chemical and a technology perspective today, chemist Jean Moriau from the Business Unit Ion Exchange Resins gave a presentation on cleaning contaminated water.

In addition to LANXESS Board Member Rainier van Roessel, the mayor of Leverkusen Ernst Küchler also attended the final event that allowed students to present the results of the project week.

 

LANXESS and AMREF provide clean drinking water in Tanzania

LANXESS has been actively helping to improve the quality of water and therefore the quality of life for people in Africa since 2008. In order to accomplish this, the specialty chemicals group entered into a partnership with AMREF extending to the end of 2010. With the financial support of the specialty chemicals group, AMREF is establishing an adequate water supply in 25 schools with a total of nearly 9,700 students in addition to equipping the schools with sanitary facilities. AMREF is also educating the African children on health and personal hygiene, such as proper hand washing which is extremely important to prevent the spread of diseases.