This topic emerged through a screening of emerging issues in science, technology and society in the context of the FET CSA OBSERVE.

http://www.horizon-observatory.eu/radar-en/index.php

The big picture

Water and especially clean water is becoming a scarce resource in ever more areas as climate change threatens water security. We need global strategies to prevent this or deal with. Implementation of existing strategies such as the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires suitable tools and methods. Water was one of the most addressed topics in 2015 science related tweets. Topics were water: -generation, -cleaning,-recycling,-pollution, -splitting, -based energy generation, - saving and -quality monitoring as well as measures dealing with droughts. Ways of measuring the quality of oceans, coastal and transitional waters is becoming an important research front in ecology. Another strand of debate is focussing on the future of oceans. Research on the impact of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems is growing fast. Artists such as Maarten Vanden Eynde (plastic reef) point towards the rise of plastic debris in the ocean - a topic that is also much discussed in science publications and media in general.

Other more specific topics related to ocean futures were:

Decline of microscopic plant-life in oceans

The world's oceans have seen significant declines in certain types of microscopic plant-life at the base of the marine food chain, according to a new NASA study. The research, published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, is the first to look at global, long-term phytoplankton community trends based on a model driven by NASA satellite data.

Electric bio rocks save coral reefs

Electrically charged steel shapes have been implemented in Indonesia to evoke growth of coral reefs.

New sensors to measure ocean acidification

Ocean acidification describes the decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans due to the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. New sensors for data gathering are being developed. XPRIZE has awarded a large sum for development of sensors for acidification.

Noise pollution in sea threatens whales

The noise of ships can be more than annoying to whales – it can be deadly.  The amount of noise can desensitize the whales over time, making them more likely to swim into the path of a ship – with possibly fatal results.

The work needed

Sources point towards substantial demand for research and innovation efforts in several S&T fields like measurement, analytics, agriculture, sanitation, desalination and many others but also in water related practices (e.g. in food, energy and medicine). They also stress the key role of social innovations such as grassroots monitoring initiatives as well as organisational innovations e.g. in water management and pricing.

Selected voices

https://themp.org (Select Challenge 2 Clean Water)

http://reports.weforum.org/global-risks-2015/part-3-good-practices-on-risk-management-and-risk-resilience/practice-1-interdisciplinary-science-for-managing-water-resources-and-improving-long-term-water-security/

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/opinion/sunday/how-the-west-overcounts-its-water-supplies.html?_r=0

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/534996/megascale-desalination/

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150923134209.htm

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150506-why-we-should-electrify-the-ocean?ocid=twfut

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-build-a-better-ocean-sensor-far-from-the-sea/

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X11003505