Integrating Environmental Water Research Across Multi Scales and Disciplines
Water is our most precious natural resource. All human activities, from agriculture and industrial processes to domestic uses, depend on water of sufficient quantity and quality. This is also true for natural ecosystems. In contrast to highly visible water quantity stressors, such as flash floods and prolonged droughts, changes in water quality are often more gradual and more difficult to detect, and their cumulative impacts more difficult to predict and manage. Water quality deterioration, however, poses more pervasive and chronic risks to the economy, human health and the ecological life-support systems of the planet.
Water quality degradation is a global phenomenon. In Canada, for example, harmful and nuisance algal blooms are a persistent problem for many freshwater bodies, including the iconic Laurentian Great Lakes, while many of our First Nations communities still live under drinking water advisories. Globally, awareness is also growing that climate change adaptation must be an integral part of planning and implementing effective water management policies and practices.
For general inquires about the Ecohydrology Research Group, please email ecohydrology@uwaterloo.ca.
News
ERG research featured in Rare Charitable Research Reserve’s Arts & Science Community Showcase
Research projects by Ecohydrology group students and researchers were recently featured in the online Arts and Science Community Showcase hosted by the rare Charitable Research Reserve.
ERG research on the effect of river damming on nutrient ratios featured in Eos
The paper Global Dam‐Driven Changes to Riverine N:P:Si Ratios Delivered to the Coastal Ocean published in Geophysical Research Letters was selected as a Research Spotlight by AGU’s weekly magazine Eos.
Ecohydrology group hosts virtual annual meeting with Winter Carbon Losses in Wetlands project collaborators
The annual meeting for a research project funded by NSERC’s Advancing Climate Change Science in Canada program and led by the University of Waterloo’s Ecohydrology Research Group was held virtually on September 16, 2020. The project, titled “Winter Carbon Losses in Wetland Ecosystems under Current and Future Climates,” includes researchers and collaborators from Laurentian University, Wilfrid Laurier University, Grenfell Campus of Memorial University of Newfoundland, and Natural Resources Canada.