News

The responsibility for implementing integrated watershed management in Canada is fragmented. Each province and territory has developed unique approaches or governance models to guide decision making. A new book, Integrated Water Management in Canada: The Experience of Watershed Agencies, co-edited by Water Institute member Bruce Mitchell, chronicles the insight of front-line water managers of watershed-based agencies in provinces from British Columbia to Newfoundland and Labrador across Canada.

Three Water Institute members have recently been appointed University Research Chairs in recognition of their outstanding research accomplishments: Roy Brouwer, professor in the Department of Economics; Michael Tam, professor in the Department Chemical Engineering; and Olaf Weber, professor in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development.

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.

A University of Waterloo Microbial Bioenergetics Workshop was held on July 23-24at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) campus in Waterloo, organized by Water Institute member Christina Smeaton. Funded by a Water Institute Seed Grant, the two-day workshop successfully facilitated knowledge exchange and collaboration between academic researchers across disciplines and industries.

Collaborative Water Program alum Fredrick Cheng, PhD candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been awarded the American Geophysical Union Horton (Hydrology) Research Grant. Each year this prestigious grant is awarded to up to three students during their candidacy for a PhD degree in hydrology, water resources, or a closely related field.

Progress on new artificial intelligence (AI) technology could make monitoring at water treatment plants cheaper and easier and help safeguard public health.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have developed AI software capable of identifying and quantifying different kinds of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, a threat to shut down water systems when it suddenly proliferates.

Executive director of the Water Institute Roy Brouwer, professor in Waterloo’s Department of Economics, was invited to be a part of a panel discussion during the 2018 session of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in New York City on July 13.

Two University of Waterloo researchers received awards at the Canadian Network of Asset Managers 2018 Conference (CNAM): Water Institute member Mark Knight and PhD student Hamed Mohammad Fardi. The network is a national leader for public infrastructure and asset management.

The Water Institute is tremendously saddened by the loss of Ric Soulis, a longtime Waterloo civil and environmental engineering professor and Water Institute member, who died June 21 after a brief illness.

Ric had a substantial record of accomplishments and impact through his research in hydrology, water resources and the physics of water movement.