Open house

World Water Day 2025

Julie Grant — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 19:27:55 +0000

World Water Day 2025 Julie Grant Wed, 02/05/2025 - 14:27

Celebrate World Water Day 2025 with the Water Institute! Join us for a full-day conference featuring inspiring keynote speakers, a showcase of innovative student research, award presentations, networking opportunities, and a complimentary lunch. Don't miss this exciting event!

Friday, March 21, 2025 - 10:00 am - 3:30 pm
University of ��ݮ��Ƶ, ��ݮ��Ƶ Centre (SLC) Black and Gold Room,
200 University Avenue West, ��ݮ��Ƶ, ON, Canada N2L 3G

Agenda

10:00 am - 10:30 am

Registration and Refreshments

10:30 am - 12:00 pm

Dr. M Jackson
The Secret Lives of Glaciers

Join Dr. M Jackson, a National Geographic Explorer and glaciologist, as she shares tales of her expeditions of glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctic, and explains how our changing climate is impacting these icy giants and the communities that rely on them.

12:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Lunch and Student Research Showcase

2:00 pm - 2:15 pm

Presentation of the Collaborative Water Program 2025 Alumni Award

2:15 pm - 3:15 pm

Sheila Watt-Cloutier
Re-Imagining a New Way Forward with Intention

Join Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and author of The Right To Be Cold, as she explores challenges that the Arctic and Inuit communities face in a globalized world and how ancient cultures can help inform sustainable futures.

3:15 pm - 3:30 pm

Closing Remarks and Awards

4:00 pm

SWIGS Evening Social

Join the Society of the Water Institute Graduate Students (SWIGS) for an opportunity to network and have fun!

This is a free, in-person event open to U��ݮ��Ƶ and community members.
Registration is required and space is limited. Should you register and no longer be able to attend, please email water.institute@uwaterloo.ca

World Wetlands Day 2025

Julie Grant — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 19:52:37 +0000

World Wetlands Day 2025 Julie Grant Fri, 01/24/2025 - 14:52

13^th Annual World Wetlands Day at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ

About World Wetlands Day

World Wetlands Day (WWD) is celebrated each year on February 2^nd, which marks the day when the Convention on Wetlands was adopted in 1971 in Ramsar, Iran. The Convention is an international government agreement acknowledging the importance of wetlands and plays a central role in the wise use and conservation of these critical ecosystems. To learn more about the Convention, visit: www.ramsar.org

World Wetlands Day 2025 Registration

The University of ��ݮ��Ƶ’s WWD event will be held in person in the Federation Hall (FED) on Monday, February 3rd, 2025 from 4:00 to 7:00 pm EST.

The event will consist of a poster session and reception followed by a distinguished lecture by Dr. Hilary Dugan, entitled:

"Should we care about freshwater salinization?"

Registration for World Wetlands Day 2025 is open! Click here to register.

Bake Your Research Competition

Julie Grant — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 21:07:38 +0000

Bake Your Research Competition Julie Grant Wed, 12/18/2024 - 16:07

Join us for our second annual Bake Your Research Competition!

A culinary competition hosted by the Society of the Water Institute Graduate Students (SWIGS) and the Water Institute. The Rules? To bake or cook an edible masterpiece that visually portrays your research! One entry per lab or research group is recommended.

Guest judges will be in attendance so break out the creativity for what's sure to be a fierce and delicious competition!

Schedule
12:00-1:30 pm	Browse the entries (coffee and drinks served)
12:00pm	Judging begins
12:30pm	Winner crowned
12:40-1:30 p.m.	Dish tasting

Deadline to register an entry is January 17!

Registration deadline for attendance is January 23.

Meet your competition!

Entries have been received so far from:

Ecohydrology Research Group (Noelle Starling)
Multiple lab collaboration (Lauren McElroy)
Power Lab (Katelyn Gao)
GHG Lab (Meg Schmidt)
Civil Engineering Hydrology Research Group (Josh Mumford)
V2V Global Partnership (Navya Vikraman Nair)
Hydrometeorology Research Group (Thomas Odland)

Bake Your Research Competition

Julie Grant — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 17:35:10 +0000

Bake Your Research Competition Julie Grant Wed, 12/13/2023 - 12:35

Join us for our first annual Bake Your Research Competition!

Guest judges will be in attendance so break out the creativity for what's sure to be a fierce and delicious competition!

Schedule
12:00-1:30 pm	Join us for lunch in the Water Institute
12:30pm	Judging begins
1:00pm	Winner crowned
1:00-1:30 p.m.	Dish tasting

Deadline to register is January 11th!

Meet your competition!

Entries have been received so far from:

1. Blue Range Labs

2. Biogeochemistry Lab

3. AquaGHG

4. Food and Agriculture

5. Design Optimization under Uncertainty Group

6. The Water Institute

7. Global Water Futures

8. Wetland Soils and Greenhouse Gas Exchange Lab

9. Hall/Wolfe Lab

10. WAMPUM Lab

WaterTalk | John Cherry: Groundwater is the Key to a Sustainable Earth

Julie Grant — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 19:09:25 +0000

WaterTalk | John Cherry: Groundwater is the Key to a Sustainable Earth Julie Grant Thu, 12/08/2022 - 14:09

As part of the Water Institute's WaterTalks lecture series, John Cherry, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of ��ݮ��Ƶ, Leader of the Groundwater Project, Recipient of the 2020 Stockholm Water Prize and Lee Kwan Yew Water Prize, 2016 presents: The Global Water Crisis Paradox: Groundwater, Food and Poverty.

This event will be offered in person at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ Theatre of the Arts, Modern Languages Building.
3:30-4:00 p.m. Doors Open
4:00-5:00 p.m. Lecture
5:00-6:30 p.m. Reception

The Global Water Crisis Paradox: Groundwater, Food and Poverty

Climate, wars, pandemics, and recessions threaten our society's future, but the most immediate threat is disappearing fresh water. According to the World Bank (2015), “Water is reaching a tipping point.” The US National Intelligence Council’s Strategic Futures Group, March (2021), wrote “Water insecurity is threatening global economic growth, political stability.” According to the World Economic Forum (2021), “Water insecurity risks triggering a global food crisis.” What goes unacknowledged by these and other global policy bureaucracies is that the global water crisis has groundwater problems at its heart. Unless this becomes clearly recognized soon and corrective measures taken, a breakdown of the globalized food economy and subsequent societal collapse become likely. Groundwater is at the heart of the crisis because groundwater makes up 99 % of all liquid freshwater; when drought comes, groundwater is the only freshwater in most regions. Understanding groundwater entails understanding a paradox. In many parts of the world too much groundwater is extracted unsustainably (groundwater mining) for irrigation. However, in rural areas around the world, 3 billion people live in water poverty and need more groundwater development for health, hygiene, and family subsistence agriculture.

On the current trajectory, most of humanity will soon live in water-based food insecurity, water poverty, or both. The solutions must reflect the paradox. Many aquifers must be pumped less to achieve sustainable water yields and food security. Some aquifers need millions of additional small, low-yield wells to supply individual families with a few hundred liters per day, which is too little pumping for groundwater mining. Key to these solutions are the concepts introduced by Glieck and Paniapannan (PNAS, 2010) for peak water, peak sustainable water, and peak ecological water. Lester R. Brown of the Worldwatch Institute warned a decade ago that “the real threat to our future is peak water…over pumping…which threatens food supply” and now it’s happening. Extrapolating from the acclaimed book by Jared Diamond (2005), Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, we are failing, not by conscious choice but because we do not comprehend what we cannot see: groundwater. We do not recognize the crisis, we are not monitoring the diminished groundwater we have left and we understand little about how biodiversity and groundwater are connected. In knowledge and technology, we are by far the most advanced civilization ever, but our fate is being determined by our ignorance. Hope for redeeming the global water crisis lies in the relatively uncomplicated but nevertheless challenging solutions that are available.

The Groundwater Project (GW-Project), established in 2017, is a Canadian non-profit charitable organization that aims to raise groundwater consciousness and strengthen groundwater expertise worldwide. Since 2017, we’ve published 27 original books with 11 more books near completion; Over 1000 well-recognized scientists and practitioners (including retirees) have volunteered as authors, translators and reviewers. These contributors are associated with over 220 organizations throughout the world. Key to the mission of the GW-Project is fostering rapid dissemination of knowledge and learning tools to universities everywhere including those in developing countries so that those with inadequate teaching resources for comprehensive groundwater education can direct students to synthesized knowledge at a high global standard. Currently, the GW-Project is working with 114 translators (volunteers), translating 18 books, into 41 languages including French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, Farsi, Greek, Hungarian, Vietnamese, and several local African languages. Emphasis is on overcoming inadequacy in knowledge and technical resources for improved access to safe drinking water globally in both remote rural areas and large urban centers, as well as on understanding and avoidance of contamination of Earth’s groundwater resources.

John Cherry, Leader of The Groundwater Project, Distinguished Emeritus Professor, ��ݮ��Ƶ and Principal Investigator, Morwick G360 Institute for Groundwater Research, Guelph

Speaker bio

Dr. John Cherry’s research pioneered the field of “contaminant hydrogeology”. He holds geological engineering degrees from the University of Saskatchewan, University of California Berkeley, and a PhD in hydrogeology from the University of Illinois. He joined the faculty at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ in 1971 and retired in 2006 as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus. He co-authored the textbook “Groundwater” with R.A. Freeze (1979) and co-holds several patents, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Foreign Member of the U.S. Academy of Engineering. He was the Chair of the Canadian Expert Panel on the environmental impacts of shale gas development. He has received awards from the USA, UK, Switzerland, Canada, Singapore (Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize, 2016), IAH President’s Award (2019) and the 2020 Stockholm Water Prize. He is currently a Principal Investigator at the G360 Institute and Project Leader for the Groundwater Project (gw-project.org) a project aimed at democratizing groundwater education globally. He is the Director of the University Consortium for Field-Focused Groundwater Contamination Research.

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)

Parking information is available here.

A recording of this event will be made available on our YouTube channel at a later date.

WaterTalk: Weather gone wild

Julie Grant — Mon, 09 Sep 2019 13:36:10 +0000

WaterTalk: Weather gone wild Julie Grant Mon, 09/09/2019 - 09:36

In partnership with ��ݮ��Ƶ Region’s Doors Open 2019

This WaterTalk will be presented at 10:30am and repeats at 11:30am.

McMaster Water Week 2017

Allie Dusome — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 11:40:10 +0000

McMaster Water Week 2017 Allie Dusome Tue, 09/05/2017 - 07:40

McMaster Water Week is a celebration of water and water-related research at McMaster University. The McMaster Water Network is organizing several events throughout the week including a keynote lecture, documentary screening, career night, and a student research showcase. All events are free and open to the public.

Program highlights

McMaster Water Week will include a Student Research Showcase with poster competition that will feature TVO's 'The Water Brothers', Alex and Tyler Mifflin. This will be an opportunity for faculty, postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate researchers from a diverse range of disciplines to discuss their work. Other highlight events include Keynote Lecture by 2007 Nobel Peace Prize co-recipient Henry Pollack, Career Night, as well as a tour of the Canadian Centre for Inland Waters in Burlington.

Full program details can be viewed on the event website.

About the McMaster Water Network

The McMaster Water Network is a University-wide initiative to connect water science, technology and policy to deliver local and global impacts. Over 50 faculty members, hundreds of students and alumni, and community partners participate in the network through interdisciplinary research clusters and experiential learning related to selected themes where water science and policy intersect. These include: water security and globalization, water quality and health, and the interface of climate, energy and water.

Water Industry Information and Networking Event

Allie Dusome — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 12:22:22 +0000

Water Industry Information and Networking Event Allie Dusome Tue, 07/18/2017 - 08:22

Ever considered a career in water? Come out to the Water Industry Info Session and Networking Night to learn about career paths and research in the water industry in areas such as conservation, wastewater and drinking water.

Wednesday, July 19 | 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. | Science Teaching Complex 0010

Why attend?

Learn about career paths in the water sector from Natural Resource Solutions Inc. and CH2M
Hear first-hand about the industry from students who have worked in the water sector
Discover “hot topics” in water research and innovation from the Water Research Institute
Explore opportunities to get involved with the Water Environment Association of Ontario and the Ontario Water Works Association
Make new contacts in the water industry

Light refreshments provided.

Open house

World Water Day 2025

Agenda

10:00 am - 10:30 am

Registration and Refreshments

10:30 am - 12:00 pm

Dr. M JacksonThe Secret Lives of Glaciers

12:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Lunch and Student Research Showcase

2:00 pm - 2:15 pm

Presentation of the Collaborative Water Program 2025 Alumni Award

2:15 pm - 3:15 pm

Sheila Watt-CloutierRe-Imagining a New Way Forward with Intention

3:15 pm - 3:30 pm

Closing Remarks and Awards

4:00 pm

SWIGS Evening Social

World Wetlands Day 2025

13th Annual World Wetlands Day at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ

About World Wetlands Day

World Wetlands Day 2025 Registration

Bake Your Research Competition

Join us for our second annual Bake Your Research Competition!

Deadline to register an entry is January 17!

Meet your competition!

Bake Your Research Competition

Join us for our first annual Bake Your Research Competition!

Deadline to register is January 11th!

Meet your competition!

WaterTalk | John Cherry: Groundwater is the Key to a Sustainable Earth

The Global Water Crisis Paradox: Groundwater, Food and Poverty

Speaker bio

WaterTalk: Weather gone wild

McMaster Water Week 2017

Program highlights

About the McMaster Water Network

Water Industry Information and Networking Event

Dr. M Jackson
The Secret Lives of Glaciers

Sheila Watt-Cloutier
Re-Imagining a New Way Forward with Intention

13^th Annual World Wetlands Day at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ