News

World Water Day, annually observed by the United Nations on March 22, celebrates water and raises awareness to the billions of people living without access to safe water. This year’s theme is groundwater: making the invisible visible. But what are the current and future challenges facing this natural resource in Canada?

A University of Waterloo Press Release

A study of more than 2,000 streams around North America found that those altered by human activity are at greater risk of flooding.

The study from the University of Waterloo analyzed the seasonal flow patterns of 2,272 streams in Canada and the U.S. and found that human-managed streams – those impacted by developments like dams, canals, or heavy urbanization – had significantly different flow patterns compared to streams in natural watersheds.

The Microplastics Fingerprinting research project team, led by Water Institute member Philippe Van Cappellen, principal investigator,professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate in Ecohydrology, are excited to announce the launch of a new project website. 

The website, and associated project, are in response to plastics pollution, a global and growing environmental hazard with potentially far-reaching consequences for food webs, biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being because their small size which enhances their mobility, toxicity, and capacity to leach potentially dangerous contaminants.

Water Institute member Sherry Schiff, professor of environmental geochemistry in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has been awarded the 2022 Frank Rigler Award, the highest honour given by the Society of Canadian Limnologists.

Colleagues from the forWater Network have recently published insights from four years of field research. They have released a series of research snapshots highlighting their findings in green technology, cyanobacterial community composition, and managing algal blooms in reservoirs.

Congratulations to Water Institute member Professor Jozef Nissimov from the Department of Biology, who has been awarded John R. Evans Leaders research infrastructure funding from the Government of Canada through the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).

Throughout history, the first and foremost role of urban water management has been the protection of human health and the aquatic environment. To this end, the practice of (waste)water treatment has maintained a central focus on the removal of pollutants through dissipative pathways.

Roy Brouwer, executive director of the Water Institute and University Research Chair in Water Resources Economics, has launched a new webinar series highlighting state-of-the-art water valuation practices in Canada.

A University of Waterloo press release.

Flooding has pushed down housing prices in communities across Canada.

New findings show that over the past eight years, catastrophic flooding in communities resulted in an average 8.2 per cent reduction in the final sale price of houses, 44.3 per cent reduction in the number of houses listed for sale, and 19.8 per cent more days on the market to sell a house.

Nitrogen fertilizers are critical for growing crops to feed the world, yet when applied in excess can pollute our water for decades. A new study provides six steps to address nitrogen pollution and improve water quality.