Promoting innovation in interdisciplinary water research and knowledge exchange when addressing complex water challenges are part of the Water Institute’s mission. Interdisciplinary thinking is an essential component to making meaningful and impactful progress in the water sector. Chris Parsons, research assistant professor in the Faculty of Science, understands the importance of knowledge exchange and cross-discipline collaboration when it comes to addressing complex water challenges. He made it an integral part of his Water Institute seed grant application last fall when he proposed a workshop with the Yucatan Centre for Scientific Research (CICY) about nutrient cycling and contaminant transport in the groundwaters and surface waters of Southern Ontario and the Yucatan Peninsula, with the aim of forging collaboration.
After being chosen as a recipient for the Water Institute seed grant, Chris organized the proposed workshop. It took place July 24-27 and consisted of two days of presentations from CICY, funding agencies, Water Institute researchers and graduate students, as well as lab tours. There was also a day spent visiting industrial partners and a day of open discussion around project ideas.
Chris Parsons welcoming guests to the workshop
The Water Institute had the opportunity to discuss the workshop with Chris, learning more about the similarities between Canada and Mexico regarding their groundwater-surface water systems.
In your seed grant application to facilitate this meeting, you discuss similarities between Canada and Mexico regarding groundwater-surface water systems. Can you elaborate on those and tell us why you chose to invite delegates from the Yucatan Peninsula for this specific workshop?
There are quite dramatic differences between Southern Ontario and the Yucatan Peninsula, such as climate, vegetation and geology. However, both areas are experiencing a surge in population growth and are extremely reliant on groundwater. Generally, in Southern Ontario we don't have too many issues with groundwater quantity but we do sometimes have concerns around groundwater quality; this situation is mirrored in the Yucatan Peninsula. For example, we experience high groundwater salinity in places due to contamination by road salt whereas on the Yucatan Peninsula the problem can be caused by seawater intrusion. We also have concerns about excess nutrients from urban and agricultural areas causing harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes; these concerns are mirrored in the Yucatan Peninsula where excess nutrients degrade coastal areas. I was made aware of some of these parallels by Dr. Eduardo Cejudo who works at the Yucatan Centre for Scientific Research (CICY). Eduardo graduated from the doctoral program in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in 2015 and started work as a research scientist at CICY in 2016. Eduardo realised that a lot of the tools and knowledge that we have collectively developed within the Water Institute could be applied in the Yucatan Peninsula to help improve our understanding of water quality in this area.
Left to right: Diego Casas Beltrán, Iván González Chi, Cecilia Hernández Zepeda, Rosa Leal Bautista, Chris Parsons, Eduardo Cejudo Espinosa, Jesús Alvarado Flores
One of your objectives of this meeting was to include researchers from multiple disciplines to allow for specialized knowledge exchange. Why do you think interdisciplinary research is important when addressing complex water challenges like groundwater-surface water issues?
I think multi and inter-disciplinary research is essential when addressing most environmental issues. Natural systems are inherently complex systems in which many different components interact with each other. It is impossible for any individual researcher to understand how all of the components in environmental systems influence each other. Having specialists from multiple research areas like sustainable development, nanotechnology, water chemistry, ecohydrology and microbiology all together in one room, discussing the same core issues, helps catalyze the creation of novel solutions to problems which we would be unable to address in isolation.
Water Institute members: Laura Hug, Susan Elliott, Mark Servos, Philippe Van Cappellen, Simon Courtenay
You identified four key water quality challenges facing both the Yucatan Peninsula and Southern Ontario. Can you elaborate on one of these challenges in relation to the environmental impacts on our groundwater-surface water systems?
Some of the key pressures on water quality in Southern Ontario and the Yucatan Peninsula are due to the increasing loads of nutrients and emerging contaminants to ground and surface waters as a result of human activities. As population increases and agriculture intensifies in response, we see greater quantities of nutrients and emerging contaminants discharged to natural water bodies. In addition to this we see the concentrations of some nutrients increasing at a greater rate than others. Changes to the amount and type of nutrients in freshwater environments can result in quite dramatic changes to water quality. We have seen the results of this in the Great Lakes, which are currently experiencing a resurgence in harmful and nuisance algal blooms, particularly in coastal areas.
In the Yucatan Peninsula we know that more and more nutrients are being discharged to groundwater due to the exploding population and tourism industry but the impact on some unique and quite pristine environments hasn’t really been evaluated yet. Researchers in the Water Institute have been working for some time on ways to evaluate the effects that increasing nutrient and contaminant loads have on ecosystem function and human health. Our intention is to try and apply some of this knowledge and new methods, in collaboration with scientists from CICY, to environments like cenotes, which are at risk of degradation.
Google Timelapse: Playa Del Carmen, Mexico
In your opinion, why is it important to cultivate international and interdisciplinary relationships with other water researchers, industry representatives and government scientists?
I think it is important as everyone has a unique perspective based on their academic background and practical experiences. Working with people from different places and with different backgrounds helps us to approach problems in different ways and to come up with different solutions. When I was organizing the workshop, I tried to ensure that there was a mix of people present and to anticipate probable points of collaboration. What surprised me was the number of synergies and collaborations which surfaced organically during the workshop which were very spontaneous in nature.
What were the outcomes of the workshop?
Six clear collaborative projects emerged from the workshop involving a total of 21 representatives from CICY, the Water Institute and our industrial partners. We are now actively working on proposals to push this work forward and hope to start working on some of these new research projects by late fall.
About Chris Parsons
His interdisciplinary work draws upon the fields of geochemistry, hydrology, microbiology, spectroscopy and thermodynamic modelling for a broad and applicable understanding of nutrients and inorganic contaminant cycling in the environment.
Since 2012, Professor Parsons has been a member of the Ecohydrology Research Group under Canada Excellence Research Chair Philippe Van Cappellen.