Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo will celebrate World Water Day on March 21. In 1993, the United Nations established World Water Day to increase global awareness of the importance of freshwater to the environment, agriculture, energy, health and trade. More than a decade later, there are still more than 750-million people who lack access to an adequate supply of freshwater.

Laurier and Waterloo will co-host a daylong event to highlight the breadth and depth of the universities’ water research. It is an opportunity for water researchers, practitioners and stakeholders to share information with each other and the community. The event will also feature poster presentations of graduate student research, a career fair and two keynote speakers:

  • Cecelia Brookes: Research Director and Indigenous Knowledge Specialist for the Assembly of First Nations Chiefs in New Brunswick; Water Grandmother at Canadian Rivers Institute
  • Monique Dubé: Project Coordinator, Environmental Performance Improvement, Shell Heavy Oil; Science Director, Canadian Rivers Institute

The theme for World Water Day 2014 is “Energy and Water” and the event will raise awareness of local and global water issues surrounding this issue.

“Raising awareness around water and energy in the Canadian context involves discussion around hydroelectric and nuclear power generation as well as the development of our oil and gas resources,” said Jim McGeer, Laurier associate professor of Biology and director of Laurier’s Institute for Water Science. “Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo’s World Water Day 2014 celebration will tackle these important debates through our keynote speakers as well as the leading edge research that will be on display at the graduate student poster session.”

“The World Water Day celebration is a great testament to the passion and commitment of our faculty and students to find answers to global water challenges through transformational research,” said Robert Gillham, executive director of Waterloo’s Water Institute.

World Water Day will be held in the EIT Foyer at the University of Waterloo from 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. For further information and for a complete schedule of events, visit the Water Institute website.

The event is sponsored by the University of Waterloo’s Water Institute, Students of the Water Institute – Graduate Section, and Wilfrid Laurier University’s Institute for Water Science and Cold Regions Research Centre.

– 30 –

Media Contacts

Wilfrid Laurier University

Lori Chalmers Morrison, Acting Director
Communications and Public Affairs
519-884-0710 ext. 3067 or lchalmersmorrison@wlu.ca

University of Waterloo

Nick Manning, Director
Media Relations
519-888-4451 or nmanning@uwaterloo.ca

Read more

Waterloo News

Media? 

Contact media relations to learn more about this or other stories.