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Taking action to adapt to climate change will help protect the health, well-being, and prosperity of Canadians and manage risks to communities, businesses, and ecosystems. Preparing for the effects of climate change before they happen will make our communities stronger and healthier for this generation and the next. That’s why the Government of Canada is making significant investments to help communities build their resilience to climate change as a key part of our plan to address climate change.

Three short huts with solar panels on them sprout in Bob McIntosh’s wheat field near St. Marys, Ont.

Inside the huts are monitoring equipment that goes right to the tiles that systemically move water from his farm. His farm is one of six across Ontario with the monitoring equipment that allows University of Waterloo researchers to study how water, and especially the phosphorus in it, flows off of farms.

Two of University of Waterloo’s graduate students from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, both supervised by Water Institute member Monica Emelko, were recognized this summer by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) for their research. Gemma Charlebois and Andrew Wong are the first and second place recipients, respectively, of the 2017 Academic Achievement Awards for best Master’s thesis.

Since its inception in 1957, the University of Waterloo has promoted excellence in water-related research and education. In 2009, the Water Institute was established to promote and demonstrate interdisciplinary water research and education, strengthen partnerships with leading water organizations, and communicate the impact of Waterloo’s research. During the second week of September, to kick off University of Waterloo’s Innovation week, the Water Institute will build on its foundation to promote water research by hosting Elsevier’s International Water Research Conference.

 Quentin Grafton is a professor of economics and director of the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. He is also the director of the Food, Energy, Environment and Water (FE2W) Network, and in April 2010, he was appointed the UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance.

Half a decade ago, Syncrude had no idea whether a frozen slice of wetland, revealing centuries-old layers of peat and soil, would thrive after being transplanted to a former oilsands mine in order to regrow.

Water Institute researcher, Jonathan Price, professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, comments:

The impact of methane gas on climate change is growing as warmer temperatures accelerate microbial methane emissions in nature. Water Institute member Hyung-Sool Lee, an associate professor in Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is discovering innovative ways to deal with this problem. His recent publication, “Kinetic study on anaerobic oxidation of methane coupled to denitrification,” offers new ideas about how to mitigate atmospheric methane efflux through anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM).

 Jill Crumb, Sylvie Spraakman and Nicole McLellan,

For the women in ImPONDerable, AquaHacking started out as an opportunity to meet other women passionate about the challenges facing Lake Erie; none of them imagined their idea would take them to the AquaHacking summit in September.