To guide strategic investments by municipalities to adopt more effective urban stormwater management options, it is required that water managers get insight into the usefulness of a range of solutions in the presence of climate change. The stormwater management workshop, held on October 11 2017 sponsored by the Water Institute and Ecohydrology group at University of Waterloo, facilitated the mobilization of knowledge among researchers (working on innovative stormwater management solutions that restore and protect ecological structure and function of urban streams) and managers who deal with emerging issues with conventional stormwater management options. The workshop consisted of a number of research presentations in the morning, followed by world-café discussion sessions in the afternoon around the topic of innovative stormwater management in extreme weather conditions. Participants provided their view on challenges in managing stormwater under climate change and conducting research in this field. They also did brainstorming on important elements of an integrated research program (e.g., objectives, methodological aspects, etc.) on stormwater management and nutrients control in the presence of extreme weather. The outcome of this workshop will be a summary report as well as a white paper that are currently being prepared.
Thursday, October 12, 2017