News

Originally published by the Faculty of Environment.

Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) have become one of the most important tools government and industry use to understand environmental risks associated with new development projects. But the environment is more than water and soil. And as practiced today, EIAs have many blind spots, often failing to include people and nature in meaningful ways.

By Nancy Goucher, Knowledge Mobilization Specialist, Water Institute

The Microplastics Fingerprinting project hosted its first in person, annual meeting recently in Waterloo. Over 40 researchers, students, and collaborating partners gathered to discuss ways to better support research integration, hear about the needs and perspectives of water practitioners, and to collectively fine-tune our communication and knowledge mobilization tactics.

Please consider submitting a manuscript to the upcoming Special Issue in the Journal of Hydrology on “Groundwater flow and reactive solute transport processes in hyporheic zone”.

Water Institute member Fereidoun Rezanezhad, Research Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, is serving as guest editor for the special issue together with Dr. Zhang Wen (China University of Geosciences), Dr. Stefan Krause (Birmingham University) and Dr. Hui Liu (China University of Geosciences).

The Government of Canada's Environmental Damages Fund, administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada, is allocating $15.8 million to six University of Waterloo research projects to identify solutions to environmental challenges.

Funded through the Climate Action and Awareness Fund (CAAF), the research supports building sustainable net-zero emissions in Canada by 2050.

A new report coauthored by University of Waterloo professor Maria Strack has provided the most comprehensive assessment of the world's peatlands to date and identified actions governments should take to improve their protection, restoration and sustainable management.

Two Water Institute researchers have been named new Canada Research Chairs.

On November 16, 2022, the Honorable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced an investment of more than $139 million to support 176 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs across 46 institutions in Canada. The announcement was made during his remarks at the Canadian Science Policy Conference in Ottawa, ON.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today announced $15 million in funding for the University of Waterloo’s Faculties of Mathematics and Environment to work with Indonesian partners on climate-change adaptation and mitigation strategies in the country.

Nancy Goucher, Knowledge Mobilization Specialist for the Water Institute, was pleased to present at this year’s National Water and Wastewater Conference 2022, which took place from November 6-9 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Nancy was invited to speak about innovative research approaches for mitigating microplastics pollution to an audience of water leaders from across the country.

Water Institute member Dr. Rebecca Rooney and her Waterloo Wetland Lab organized a successful wetland information session and clean-up event on Wednesday, November 9th. The event took place at a small but highly visible urban wetland at the corner of Columbia and Fisher-Hallman roads in Waterloo, ON that has collected a large amount of unwelcomed litter.

More than 35 volunteers rolled up their sleeves to clean the wetland and raise awareness on the value of wetlands and the threats facing them.

The discovery of a 460 km river under the Antarctica ice sheet could be the missing link to climate models.  

A team of researchers led by Water Institute member Dr. Christine Dow, a professor in the department of Geography and Environmental Management and cross-appointed to the Department of Applied Mathematics, discovered the river from a series of airborne radar surveys and modelling. Their findings show the ice sheet's base has more active water flow than previously thought, which could make it more susceptible to changes in climate.