SDG6

WaterTalk | Hydrogeology: What's the Use?

Julie Grant — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 19:17:26 +0000

WaterTalk | Hydrogeology: What's the Use? Julie Grant Tue, 12/12/2023 - 14:17

As part of the Water Institute's WaterTalks lecture series, Dr. Ty Ferré, Distinguished Professor, Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Arizona, will present: Hydrogeology: What's the Use?

This event is in person in DC 1302 with a lunch reception to follow in DC 1301 (The Fishbowl).

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Hydrogeologists are faced with the challenge of building models of water and solute movement through complex, sparsely characterized geologic systems. Every step of this process introduces opportunities for error and uncertainty, from the choice of where and what to measure, to the conceptualization of the flow system, to the construction, parameterization, and calibration of the numerical model. There is increasing acceptance among hydrogeologists that 'all models are imperfect'. But there is little to no agreement about how (or if) model uncertainty should be communicated to clients and how that uncertainty might be included in water resources planning. In this talk, I will present a very simple hydrogeologic problem and use it to explore the following topics. How does measurement uncertainty affect model prediction uncertainty and how can we determine if those uncertainties matter? How can we determine how much hydrologic observations are worth in a decision context? How can we account for stakeholder biases and, importantly, are they always something to be avoided? The talk will draw on Bayes' Law, Pareto optimization, and multi-model analysis. But the take home messages will be clear and simple to explain to any audience.

Speaker bio

Ty Ferré is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Arizona. His students investigate topics ranging from direct and geophysical monitoring of the vadose zone, to groundwater model parameter estimation, to increasing the role of stakeholders in water resources decision making. He was the 2016 National Groundwater Association Darcy Lecturer.

The University of ��ݮ��Ƶ is committed to achieving barrier-free accessibility for persons with disabilities who are visiting, studying or working at ��ݮ��Ƶ. If you have questions concerning access or wish to request accommodations for this event, please contact Julie Grant (j26grant@uwaterloo.ca)

WaterTalk: What’s public about public water?

Julie Grant — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 18:26:22 +0000

WaterTalk: What’s public about public water? Julie Grant Mon, 10/16/2023 - 14:26

As part of the Water Institute's WaterTalks lecture series, Dr. David McDonald, Professor, Department of Global Development Studies, Queen’s University, will present: What’s public about public water?

This event is in person in DC 1302 with a lunch reception to follow in DC 1301 (The Fishbowl).

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Debates about water privatization have tended to construct a simplistic binary of public versus private. In reality, ‘public’ water is varied and complex in its institutional and ideological make-up, illustrated in part by the rise of very different types of ‘remunicipalized’ water services over the past ten years as well as the growth of ‘corporatized’ public utilities. Drawing on two decades of empirical and theoretical work on this topic, Dr McDonald will highlight key tensions and synergies in the emerging debates about the nature of public water services.

Speaker bio

David McDonald is Professor of Global Development Studies at Queen’s University and Director of the Municipal Services Project. He has conducted research on public services in more than 50 countries and has written extensively in academic and popular formats. His most recent book is “Meanings of Public and the Future of Public Services”

WaterTalk: Achieving SDG safely managed sanitation services and its implications

Julie Grant — Fri, 13 Oct 2023 19:28:01 +0000

WaterTalk: Achieving SDG safely managed sanitation services and its implications Julie Grant Fri, 10/13/2023 - 15:28

As part of the Water Institute's WaterTalks lecture series, Dr. Caetano Dorea, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Victoria, will present: Achieving SDG safely managed sanitation services and its implications.

This event is in person in DC 1302 with a lunch reception to follow in DC 1301 (The Fishbowl).

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To celebrate World Toilet Day (November 19^th) this talk will be themed around Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 which is to achieve universal and equitable access to safely managed sanitation services by 2030. Even if we were on track to achieve this goal, it is unlikely this could be done through centralised sewered sanitation systems. Most of the global population are serviced by non-sewered sanitation systems such as pit latrines and septic systems. I will share some of the research that the Public Health & Environmental Engineering (PH2E) Lab is doing on this theme to better understand these highly used (but rarely researched) sanitation systems and the design and policy implications this could have.

Speaker bio

Dr. Caetano Dorea's interests and expertise are at the crossroads of environmental and public health engineering. This includes the development and evaluation of water and sanitation/wastewater technologies, field- and operator-appropriate water/wastewater/ faecal sludge quality analytical methods, and functional ecology characterisation of biological treatment systems for safeguarding the health of the public and the environment. Dr. Dorea's activities are focused mainly on “low-resource contexts” which are ubiquitous in low- to high-income countries. These projects range from the development of methods for the online monitoring and control of disinfection by products in small Canadian municipalities to the delivery of safe water and sanitation for humanitarian relief. Dr. Dorea leads the PH2E Lab and the #WASHCanada NSERC CREATE programme out of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Victoria (Victoria, BC).