Much of this research involves hydro-climatic and geomorphic factors, crop choices and land management practices influences on water availability, use and quality in a Pan-Canadian context with the goal of improving current and future agricultural water sustainability. Research in this area in the Hydrometeorology Research Group will focus on Southern Ontario watersheds using a combination of field-based research, data-mining, and hydro-climatic modelling efforts. This research will be done under the Southern Ontario Watershed Consortium and Global Water Futures, Agricultural Water Futures programs and will involve examining these processes as governed by the influence of urbanization and landuse change.

The objectives of this research are: (1) Studying basin scale evapotranspiration in the establishment of an antecedent hydrologic index to predict the export of nutrients, (2) Spatial variability in trace gas exchange, and (3) the effects of nutrient loading on the productivity of riparian zone wetlands. Instrumenting catchments of differing degrees of agricultural activity and urbanization is also permitting the examination of basin scale movements of nutrients, contaminants and water to allow the refinement of our predictive capacity for the effects of these impacts on water quantity and quality. Done within the framework of the Southern Ontario Watershed Consortium, and in collaboration with Dr. M.C. English (Wilfrid Laurier University), Dr. S. Schiff (University of Waterloo), Dr. D. Rudolph (University of Waterloo), Dr. C. Mitchell (University of Toronto) and Dr. M. Macrae (University of Waterloo).

Global Water Futures can be followed here on twitter; Agricultural Water Futures can be followed here on twitter