“Thermal water – yesterday, today, tomorrow”
On 4th June, Varaždinske Toplice, along with its partners, organized an international expert meeting themed “Thermal water – yesterday, today, tomorrow”. It was held in the unique ambience of the Roman basilica at the archaeological site Aquae Iasae in Varaždinske Toplice. The meeting gathered both national and foreign experts in the fields of archaeology, geology and engineering who presented their recent research, especially in time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The meeting started with the presentation of the new energy renovated Special Hospital for Medical Rehabilitation in Varaždinske Toplice and construction of national rehabilitation centre for spinal cord diseases and injuries, also in Varaždinske Toplice. The new centre will contribute to better and quality rehabilitation of patients and increase Municipality’s economy and positively affect health tourism.
Also, mineral water, used in Varaždinske Toplice, has potential therapeutic effects if the patients drink it in certain amounts on a daily basis. A team from Turkey, along with Croatian scientist, have surveyed patients who drank the water for 20 days and measure the effects. Even though the research is still in its infancy, the preliminary results are showing the great potential that can also be used in health tourism.
Furthermore, the presenters gave us an intro to the legislative framework regarding thermomineral water and the potential of thermomineral waters in continental tourism of the NW part of Croatia. The interesting part of the meeting was the presentations about the source of salt water called Slanje which has been so far a source of much researches but still hasn’t been investigated yet, especially in terms of its origin.
To summarize the whole expert meeting, the last presentation of the expert part was related to geothermal energy and how it can evolve from being a legend to become a recognizable brand. Also, the Healing Places project was introduced as the project which combines geothermal sources with environmental protection and how it is nowadays important and significant in terms of achieving a sustainable environment.
At the end of the meeting, the dean of the Faculty of Geotechnical Engineering presented their Faculty and all scientific project that they are currently conducting.
