News

Researchers at the Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change and the Partners for Action research network at the University of Waterloo surveyed 2,300 homeowners who live in communities that the Government of Canada’s Flood Damage Reduction Program designated as flood-risk areas.

The study found that 94 percent of respondents are unaware of their risk and don’t know that recent government policy changes puts the onus on homeowners to insure their homes.

The story includes comments by Water Institute member Blair Feltmate, of the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development. 

A team of researchers has discovered that many Canadian lakes can provide new insights into ancient oceans, and their findings could advance research about greenhouse gas emissions, harmful algal blooms, and early life forms.

Global Water Futures (GWF): Solutions to Water Threats in an Era of Global Change

The GWF program is a collaborative initiative between multiple Canadian universities and partner organizations funded through the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. GWF aims to deliver risk management solutions for water resources and services – informed by leading edge water science and supported by innovative decision-making tools – in Canada and throughout the cold regions of the world.

Interdisciplinary approaches are key when investigating potential impacts from climate change on human, economic and environmental systems. Unexpected changes to the quantity and quality of water available to local communities and environments can have wide-ranging effects, including impacting public health, environmental resilience, and agricultural and food security. Four Water Institute researchers were recently awarded funding from the Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Advanced Scholars Program to build institutional capacity in select Commonwealth countries to address linkage

During World Water Day celebrations on March 22, the Water Institute and the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation announced an exciting three-year partnership that will combine water expertise and technology to help mitigate the threats facing our Great Lakes.

Roy Brouwer, Executive Director, Water Institute; Claude Perras, Executive Director, de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation

Dr. Joan Rose – winner of the 2016 Stockholm Water Prize – is an international expert in water microbiology, water quality and public health safety at Michigan State University. Professor Rose and her team, whom she calls “water detectives,” investigate waterborne disease outbreaks globally to determine how they can be stopped, and prevented. 

Collaborative Water Program student, Danielle Lindamood, was accepted into the "Water Innovation Lab - India" program in the fall of 2016. It brought together 35 students and water practitioners from around the world for a two-week field experience in locations around India. She spent two weeks overseas exploring different water problems and contexts, and presenting innovative ideas for solutions.

Below she has written about her experience in India and her experience in being a part of the Water Institute’s Collaborative Water Program.

Congratulations to Water Institute members Philippe Van Cappellen, Norman Zhou and Sherry Schiff, three of the five Waterloo researchers to recently receive a combined total of $3 million from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). 

The researchers and their water-related projects are:

Yesterday, Waterloo’s Water Institute and the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES) signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The MOU formalizes the commitment to continue collaboration between China’s largest environmental research institute and the Water Institute in water management research, education and training.