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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.

 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.

A massive survey of European waters has found that across the continent, climate change has caused flood times to shift — sometimes by several weeks.

A research publication by Water Institute member Nandita Basu and Collaborative Water Program student, Fred Cheng, was recently featured in EOS after the American Geophysical Union wrote a Research Spotlight on it. We've provided the text, written by freelance writer Sarah Witman, below.

Microplastics contribute an estimated 10,000 metric tons of plastic debris that end up in our Great Lakes every year. These tiny particles of plastic, less than five millimeters in size, can come from things like hand soap, toothpaste, makeup, and even clothing. They are particularly concerning, because their small size and buoyancy allow a number of them to slip through water treatment filters, making their way into our waterways and food chain.