Today, 4.5 billion people live without a household toilet that safely disposes of their waste. World Toilet Day, which took place on Sunday, November 19, is about inspiring action to tackle the global sanitation crisis.
The University of Waterloo has entered into a partnership with the University of Alberta and Insituform Technologies to improve the maintenance of water distribution pipelines.
The partnership is part of the Alberta-Ontario Innovation Program(AOP)-NSERC program.
Water samples taken from Lake Superior show that the Thunder Bay area appears to have a significant amount of plastic pollutants.
The samples were collected in 2014 as part of a fish survey on Lake Superior by an American research team.
The presence and accumulation of plastic debris in the marine environment has seen a substantial increase, with global production of plastics having grown exponentially in the last 60 years, from 1.5 million tons of plastics around 1950 to more than 300 million tons annually in 2014. In 2010 alone, estimates show that between 4.8 and 12.7 million tons of plastic litter entered the marine environment (UNEP and GRID-Arendal, 2016. Marine Litter Vital Graphics. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya).
Rebecca Rooney, Water Institute member and professor in the Department of Biology, studies wetlands ecology. Her work supports the implementation of invasive species management and the protection of species at risk. Currently, Rooney is exploring the interactions between invasive species and species at risk, especially Phragmites australis, which is considered one of the greatest dangers to coastal marshes.
Water Institute member Blair Feltmate, the Head of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo, was the guest speaker at a municipality information session in Lakeshore to inform residents on how to prevent future flooding by taking advantage of the backwater valve subsidy program. Feltmate spoke on the growing threat of basement flooding.
Three Water Institute members will receive funding to advance research and encourage partnerships that will lead to innovative approaches that improve the well-being of Canadians.
The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) is awarding the funding through Insight Grants, Insight Development Grants, and Partnership Development Grants.
Water Institute member Christine Dow, assistant professor in Waterloo’s Department of Geography and Environmental Management, was awarded an NSERC Canada Research Chair in Glacier Hydrology and Ice Dynamics. The appointment is valued at $500,000 over five years.
Dow’s research interests are focused on the development of subglacial hydrological networks and their impact on ice dynamics on a variety of spatial and temporal scales. She analyzes these systems using a combination of numerical modelling methods and data integration.
Waterloo researchers have found that more than 30 per cent of rural groundwater samples collected in the Nottawasaga River Watershed, including those from domestic wells, show evidence for contamination by local septic system wastewater.
The University of Waterloo is Canada’s most innovative university, according to a reputational survey from Maclean’s magazine.