News

Andrea Minano, Geography PhD candidate, is the coordinator of the Canadian Coastal Resilience Forum (CCRF) led by Water Institute member Jason Thistlethwaite. She is responsible for organizing and facilitating CCRF activities and engagement. Andrea also manages the Flood Policy Research Group — an interdisciplinary group of researchers focusing on Canadian flood policy and flood risk management.

Every year a significant amount of runoff water, contaminated with hydrocarbons, gets washed into stormwater drains and released into the water bodies, often untreated. This problem is often overlooked while contaminants accumulate and negatively impact the environment – including the water quality and animal and plant habitats.

Warmer winters are leading to a greater frequency of freeze-thaw events and colder soils due to the loss of the insulating snowpack. These factors are subsequently changing the movement of water, carbon and nutrients in soils during the winter. Many assume that frozen soils are dormant. However, a new research project at the University of Waterloo is discovering that soils remain biogeochemically active during winter months, just differently from other seasons.

The University of Waterloo’s Water Institute has awarded a combined total of $67,275 to four new interdisciplinary water research initiatives during its most recent fall 2018 Seed Grants Program call for proposals.

On Friday, January 11, 2019, 67 graduate students from all six University of Waterloo faculties stepped into a classroom and began their journey in the Collaborative Water Program (CWP). This program is jointly offered by 11 University of Waterloo departments and schools, making it the most interdisciplinary graduate program focusing on water in Canada.

Underscores value of citizen science and linking with stakeholders to refine and share research results

Nearly 95,700 Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup volunteers hauled approximately 263,000 kilograms of litter from Ontario shorelines between 2010-17. Volunteer citizen scientists have logged the amounts and types of litter they have found during their community cleanups, however this information has not often been utilized by researchers to explore notable trends over extended time periods.

Power Shift: How businesses can factor in risks from climate change

Blair Feltmate discusses how businesses can evolve their planning to take climate change and extreme weather risks into account.

Proposed bill could lead to policy patchwork in Ontario endangering environmental protections and public health

UW associate professor Nandita Basu says Bill 66 threatens the environment by allowing municipalities to bypass policies and acts protecting water and land.

Water Institute member and professor in Waterloo's Department of Geography and Environmental Management, Susan Elliott, joins fellow Canadian Women on the 2018 Canadian Women in Global Health (CWIGH) List. 

A new study from the University of Waterloo sheds some light on which Canadian cities are most prepared to take on the challenges of climate change.

The study, which examined 63 cities across Canada, confirms there are significant differences between municipal plans to protect citizens from climate change.