News

Flooding is a significant threat to low-lying socio-ecological systems, posing risks to housing, health, water security, critical infrastructure, and human mobility. Managed retreat (MR), defined as "the purposeful relocation of people, property, and critical infrastructure out of areas vulnerable to recurrent climatic hazards," is emerging as a potentially transformative adaptation approach that offers opportunities for both risk reduction and advancement of social justice. 

A top expert in biomonitoring and ecosystem assessment at the University of Waterloo is co-leading an International Joint Commission (IJC) work group to develop and propose coordinated frameworks for microplastics monitoring that have the potential to shape microplastics research in the Great Lakes region and beyond.

In early-May, Water Institute Managing Director Kevin Boehmer travelled to Indonesia to share Water Institute experience with the Bogor Agricultural University (IPB University) in Bogor, Indonesia. IPB is a lead University of Waterloo partner in the Flood Impacts, Carbon Pricing and Ecosystem Sustainability (FINCAPES) project. FINCAPES is a 5^1/2 year, $15M project funded by Global Affairs Canada to improve Indonesia’s economic and environmental resilience to the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss in an inclusive, gender-responsive manner.

With Ontario’s eight species of turtles considered at risk, a new nest designed by researchers has the potential to significantly bolster their struggling populations.

While microplastics are considered an ‘emerging contaminant’, they have been found nearly everywhere, even in so-called pristine locations like Antarctica and the human placenta. This ‘emerging contaminant’ status does not mean that plastic is a new problem—Canadian plastic production has increased by 230-fold since the 1950s.

Satellite data provides first evidence of ocean water intrusion beneath Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier 

Waterloo Engineering's Vision and Image Processing Research Lab partners with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to boost whale-spotting efficiency with machine learning 

The University is partnering with HI3 Hub to improve wastewater detection and analysis of pathogens

Navya Vikraman Nair, PhD candidate in the Collaborative Water Program and School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, has been chosen as one of the top ten Young Water Sustainability Leaders 2024 by The World Water Forum.

Congratulations to Water Institute member Marek Stastna, professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics, on being awarded $1.65 million in funding for a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) program.