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Water Institute member's latest book offers best practices for avoiding Day Zero
This article was originally published on the Water Institute's website.
Water Institute member Larry Swatuk, professor, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, School of Planning and Department of Geography and Environmental Management, and School of Planning alumna Corrine Cash, assistant professor, Department of Geography and Environment, Mount Allison University, have a new book out offering best practices for avoiding Day Zero.
The Political Economy of Urban Water Security under Climate Change, published by Palgrave Macmillan, co-edited by professors Swatuk and Cash, is part of the International Political Economy Series, providing a comprehensive review of urban water security challenges and opportunities. The book includes in-depth discussions on best practices for urban sustainability and applies a common framework of analysis across cities of all world regions.
“Providing adequate water and sanitation for the world’s urban masses is perhaps the greatest challenge of the 21st century," says Professor Swatuk. "Success will depend on our willingness to depart from long-standing practices and embrace new concepts and practices such as circular economies and sponge cities.”
About the book
In 2018, the city of Cape Town faced the prospect of reaching ‘day zero’, that is a combination of natural and human-made factors leading to the complete collapse of its municipal water supply. While the rains eventually fell and a major disaster was averted, the fear of running out of water looms large in the psyche of residents in many cities around the world.
Water is a non-substitutable, essential, finite and fugitive resource. It is the lifeblood of human endeavour.
Cities, through global processes such as Agenda 2030 and forums such as ICLEI exchange best practices for achieving water security. These forums also are collective social spaces occupied by civil society organizations who share strategies and tactics, and the private sector, who compete for markets and contracts, promoting patent-protected technologies. It is these groups – states, civil societies, private sectors – coming together who determine who gets what water, when, and where.
It is the job of academics to understand the how and why, and of (academic-)activists to fight for equity of access and sustainability of use.
Evidence drawn from around the world and over time consistently shows that water flows toward money and power. Outcomes are too-often socially inequitable, environmentally unsustainable and economically inefficient. How to shift existing processes toward improved practices is not clear, but positive outcomes do exist.
In this collection, the authors compare and contrast the challenges and opportunities for achieving urban water security with a focus on 11 major world cities: Bangalore, Beijing, Cairo, Cape Town, Chennai, Istanbul, Jakarta, London, Melbourne, Sao Paulo and Tokyo.
Through the theoretical, conceptual and practical insights provided in these case studies, the collection constructively contributes to a global conversation regarding the ways and means of ‘avoiding day zero’.
Athletics launches Black Apprenticeship Coaching Program
This article was originally published on the Athletics and Recreation website.
Warriors Athletics & Recreation is excited to announce the Black Apprenticeship Coaching Program in partnership with the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Anti-racism office (EDI-RO). This program has been developed to increase racialized representation in coaching positions for recent graduates to pursue coaching pathways with the Waterloo Warriors.
"The Black Apprenticeship Coaching Program is a much needed and long overdue initiative that will enhance opportunities for aspiring coaches to gain valuable hands-on experience," said Darrell Adams, co-founder of The Alliance and associate coach of the football program. "I am beyond excited to serve as a mentor in all aspects, as well as provide access to my network of peers. I hope this 'pilot' becomes the foundation of a sustainable program here at the University of Waterloo."
This program will provide multiple apprenticeship positions available under the leadership, guidance and mentorship of fulltime coaches within the following varsity programs: basketball, football, hockey, strength & conditioning, swimming and volleyball. The apprentice coach will gain applied experience in all aspects of the sport program, under the strategic direction of the head coach while being supported by EDI-RO and its work under the Scarborough Charter.
"We are thrilled to partner with EDI-RO and to offer these opportunities to develop young Black coaches, and to increase diversity in the representation within coaching positions to better support our student-athletes," said Roly Webster, Director of Athletics and Recreation.
"I am thrilled at the opportunity to mentor and guide young racialized or marginalized new coaches to sport which is very underrepresented," said Jacky Beckford-Henriques, co-founder of The Alliance and head coach of the Warriors swimming program. "I am fully supportive of these programs and excited to partner with EDI-R to make this a success."
"Institutionally, we need to continue to partner with departments to collectively make change. Sport is a powerful platform, not just to make change, but to convey messages that will educate and build awareness around the importance of this anti-racism and anti-oppression," said Dr. Christopher S. Taylor, Associate Vice-President, EDI-RO.
The coaching opportunities are scheduled to begin in the Fall of 2022 and those wishing to apply can do so by emailing warriorsinfo@uwaterloo.ca.
Vulnerable communities face a higher risk of socio-economic injustice due to flood hazards
This article was originally published on the Faculty of Environment's news site.
Socially vulnerable groups are at greater risk from climate-change-caused flooding because of systemic disadvantages, according to a new study.
The study also reveals that neighbourhood-level racial or ethnic, economic, social, and demographic factors play a significant explanatory role in the distribution of flood risk across Canadian neighbourhoods.
The study led by Liton Chakraborty, a researcher at the University of Waterloo's Partners for Action, in collaboration with other Waterloo researchers, found that traditionally-recognized socially vulnerable groups in Canada, such as females, persons living alone, Indigenous, South Asians, the elderly (age 65 and over), other visible minorities, and economically insecure residents bear a disproportionate burden of inland and coastal flood risks.
"This research fills the gap of analyzing and addressing flood-related socio-economic discriminations while considering divisibility aspects of flood hazards and contributes to the emergent and quantitative environmental justice literature on flood-related socio-economic disparities," Chakraborty said.
The study utilized national datasets of flood hazards, residential address points, census of population, and census tract (CT)-level cartographic boundaries to determine flood vulnerable neighbourhoods and the number of residential properties exposed to river, periodic rainfalls, and coastal flooding across 4,458 CTs in Canada.
By examining whether the types of flood hazard zones influence the observed relationships among flood exposure and racial, ethnic, and other socio-demographic characteristics of Canadian residents, the study indicates that the statistical associations between periodic rainfalls-related flood risk exposure and the proportion of Black, Indigenous and other visible minority populations are positive and significant.
"Our research shows how the spatially varying distribution of flood hazards and socio-economic deprivation, or social vulnerability indicators could inform Canada's equitable flood management approach that complements Federal Government's Gender-based Analysis Plus priorities in flood-related disaster and emergency management policies across Canada," Chakraborty said. "Therefore, the paper's findings promote a socially just flood risk management approach emphasizing the need to acknowledge socio-economic heterogeneity within various racial, ethnic, and socio-demographic groups."
The researchers suggest that policymakers must consider the uneven distribution of racial or ethnic and socio-demographic covariates in designing flood risk management strategies that optimize scarce resource allocation.
The study, authored by Waterloo researchers Chakraborty, Horatiu Rus, Daniel Henstra, Jason Thistlethwaite, Andrea Minano, and Daniel Scott, was recently published in the Environmental Research journal.
Save the date for Alumni Black and Gold Day
A message from the Office of Advancement.
Dust off your leather jacket and warm up your cheering voice, because Alumni Black and Gold Day returns to campus October 1, 2022. For the first time in two years, we’ll gather in person for a variety of events, including the Warriors Football game against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues.
Plus, we’re starting the celebration early, with social and learning events starting on Thursday, September 29.
Wednesday's notes
The Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business is hosting a Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) information session on Thursday, August 25.
"Get an overview of Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) with a focus on the part-time program experience," says a note from Conrad. "The MBET program is a graduate entrepreneurship master's program that combines interdisciplinary courses with practical experiences in venture creation and commercialization. In MBET, students learn inside and outside the classroom. Networking, practical experience, and hands-on learning with like-minded people in the Waterloo entrepreneurship community that complement the core Master's-level courses inside the classroom."
"This online session will include a live Q&A to give you a chance to get answers to your question from a member of the recruitment team."
The event takes place Thursday, August 25 from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. via Zoom.
"Please join us in celebrating Ron Koelewijin’s retirement after over 3 decades of service with Food Services," says a note from Food Services. The retirement celebration takes place on Wednesday, August 31, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., in the South Side Marketplace dining hall. All friends and colleagues of Ron are welcome.
Food Services has announced the dates of the fall term's UW Farm Market:
- Thursday, September 15, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., SLC Lower Atrium;
- Arts Quad Toonie Picnic, Thursday, September 22, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Arts Quad;
- Thursday, September 29, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., SLC Lower Atrium; and
- Thursday, October 6, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., SLC Lower Atrium.
The UW Farm Market was established in 2006 and boasts 100 per cent local produce as well as other products from the area, sourced mainly from the Elmira Produce Auction Cooperative.