News

The State of São Paulo, Brazil has faced severe water shortages in the recent past and may be heading towards another water crisis. During this time, the Water Institute has partnered with local stakeholders to help investigate some of the most important aspects of water security in São Paulo, and new and fortified partnerships are driving these initiatives forward.

Danielle Lindamood and Irene Brueckner-Irwin have had a passion for water for as long as they can remember. It’s what led them to become actively involved in the Water Institute, and what inspired them to launch a unique, online platform that shares the incredible impacts of people working in the water-related fields with a particular focus on women.

According to the World Health Organization, 2.1 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water. Without safe drinking water, people are at risk of contracting water-borne diseases, which are responsible for more than 3.4 million deaths each year.

Located in northeast Alberta, the Peace-Athabasca Delta (PAD) is one of the most magnificent wetlands in the world. Serving as the junction of four major North American waterfowl migratory routes, millions of ducks and geese descend to feed and nest here each summer.

Institutions around the Great Lakes gathered at the 2018 AquaHacking semi-finals in Toronto to present their solutions for the issues facing the Great Lakes. Competing teams were given five minutes to pitch their idea to judges throughout the afternoon at the RBC WaterPark Place.

Five of the 16 teams that competed were selected to move on to the finals in October, including a University of Waterloo team, WaterPuris, that is tackling the issue of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC) in our Great Lakes.

There are 700 million people in 43 countries currently suffering from water scarcity. By 2025, 1.8 billion people are expected to be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity.

On June 17-20, Water Institute members and water experts from around the world are gathering in Toronto to discuss issues of water security at the First International Conference on Water Security.

Congratulations to the 11 Water Institute members who are recipients of the 2017 Outstanding Performance Awards announced by Vice-President, Academic and Provost George Dixon.

Last week, the Water Institute gathered University of Waterloo researchers involved in the Global Water Futures (GWF) project for a university-wide meeting to share updates and meet new members of the GWF core team.