News

On October 7 & 8, researchers and policymakers from across the Great Lakes basin came together in Waterloo to discuss the current state and future approaches to integrated lake-watershed models, and how these models can inform science policy. Representatives from academia, governments and consultants from both the United States and Canada participated.

Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen, Water institute member, Earth and Environmental Sciences Professor and Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate in Ecohydrology, recently attended the the 4^th International Water Environment Management Summit (iWES) at the Singapore-Nanjing Eco Hi-Tech Island to participate in their first Global WaterTech Challenge.

On October 14-15, the Water Institute welcomed a delegation of 10 researchers from the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES) to campus for the 3^rd China-Canada workshop on water environment issues.

Arctic regions have captured and stored carbon for tens of thousands of years, but a new study shows winter carbon emissions from the Arctic may now be putting more carbon into the atmosphere than is taken up by plants each year. 

On October 7-8, the Water Institute was pleased to host several colleagues from the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil to participate in a workshop that addressed various water security issues facing the Guarani Aquifer. The Guarani Aquifer, which is under increasing threat from deforestation, urbanization and climate change, is the second largest aquifer in the world and is a critical source of freshwater for the megacity of São Paulo.

Water Institute member Elizabeth English was awarded first place in the sustainable products category of the Architecture MasterPrize Product Design Award for her Buoyant Foundation Project of which she is the founder and director.

We have been fortunate over the past several months to have some amazing new talent join the University of Waterloo and the Water Institute. A sincere welcome and we look forward to opportunities to collaborate!

Warren Dodd

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Health Systems

On September 25, students of the Collaborative Water Program (CWP), together with Water Institute faculty members and staff, formally recognized and celebrated the contributions of Dr. Mark Servos in developing and delivering the highly successful CWP program over its first six years. The event, organized by the Water Institute’s graduate students association SWIGS, was held at the Huether Hotel.

Renowned socio-hydrologist Prof. Murugesu Sivapalan, Chester & Helen Siess Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will be at the University of Waterloo on September 26 to deliver a Water Institute WaterTalk entitled “Imagineering” Not Just Engineering Needed to Solve Water Security Challenges”.