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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.

In late September, a delegation of 12 researchers from the Water Institute participated in the second Sino-Canadian Water Environment Workshop in Waterloo with officials from Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES).

The first workshop, which took place in Hangzhou, China in May 2015, resulted in the adoption of the 2015-2017 China-Canada Bilateral Workplan which identified CRAES and the Water Institute as respective Chinese and Canadian lead contact agencies under the water management theme.

Beating the cold has taken on new meaning for University of Waterloo researchers who are working to help Canadian wastewater treatment plants become more environmentally sustainable.

One of the research group’s projects involves a problem at a plant in the southern Ontario community of Keswick that is subject to stringent discharge limits.

The following story was co-authored by Water Institute member Jeremy Pittman, assistant professor in Waterloo's School of Planning, and originally appeared in The Conversation Canada.