Institute at the final conference of the project “Underground Waters, the Guardians of Life”

5. December 2024.

Institute at the final conference of the project “Underground Waters, the Guardians of Life”

The Josip Juraj Strossmayer Water Institute has supported the "Underground Waters, Guardians of Life" project from the very beginning. As an institution that carries out systematic monitoring of surface and underground waters, we believe that education and raising public awareness of the importance of protecting our waters is paramount.

The final conference of the project “Underground Waters, Guardians of Life” took place at Speleon – the Centre for Underground Heritage in Rakovica. The final conference also included a panel discussion entitled “Drops for the future”. The conference was addressed by Mario Šiljeg, Director of the Water Institute, Tihana Oštrina, Director of the public institution Barać Caves, and Mihovil Bićanić, Mayor of the Municipality of Rakovica, as well as numerous guests from various institutions and organisations.

The project was initiated with the aim of educating and sensitising the public about the need to protect underground waters, which are a vital resource for human life and ecosystems. The project systematically promoted discussions about the importance of protecting underground waters, informed the wider community about ways to conserve them, and encouraged positive ecological changes in the daily lives of individuals and communities.

The Josip Juraj Strossmayer Water Institute has supported the “Underground Waters, Guardians of Life” project from the very beginning. As an institution that carries out systematic monitoring of surface and underground waters, we believe that education and raising public awareness of the importance of protecting our waters is paramount.

The successful results of this project’s activities have shown that our support was an excellent choice, and we are pleased that our expert advice and the involvement of our specialists have contributed to the development of this exceptionally high-quality ecological story. The fact that 90% of water for human consumption comes directly from groundwater emphasises the importance of protecting this invaluable but very sensitive resource,” explained Mario Šiljeg, Director of the Water Institute. He also sent special greetings to Tihana Oštrina, the director of the Barać Caves Public Institution, with whom he had the honour of opening the Speleon Centre two years ago, one of the finest examples of Croatian park infrastructure, where the underground world is indeed at the centre of the work.

The project was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development (now the Ministry of Environment and Green Transition), Karlovac County, the City of Karlovac and the Josip Juraj Strossmayer Water Institute.