News

The Water Institute is excited to announce that John Cherry, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo, Leader of the Groundwater Project, Recipient of the 2020 Stockholm Water Prize and Lee Kwan Yew Water Prize 2016, will be presenting the opening lecture of the 2023 WaterTalks series.

He will present “Groundwater is the Key to a Sustainable Earth” on January 18^th in person at the University of Waterloo Theatre of the Arts in the Modern Languages Building with a reception to follow.

Republished with permission from the forWater Network.

With the reopening of in-person conferences, this fall saw many forWater network members showcasing their research across North America. Over 15 presentations of critical research touching on many different aspects of source water protection were shared across four major international conferences. ​Researchers presented at National Water and Wastewater Conference (NWWC) in Halifax and American Water Works Association's Water Quality Technology Conference (WQTC) in Cincinnati as well as the Western Water Conference in Calgary. Several researchers will be participating in the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) fall meeting in Chicago on December 12-16.

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.