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World-class research improving water quality

²Ï³Ü±ð±ð²Ô’s Drinking Water Quality Group focused on researching the factors and mechanisms that lead to poor water quality in drinking water systems and developing innovative technologies and best practices to protect drinking water in Canadian systems. Their research facilities include the Drinking Water Distribution Lab, a unique research facility in North America located at »Ê¹ÚÌåÓý's that can replicate the full hydraulic, physico-chemical, and microbiological conditions of real distributions systems in a fully-controlled environment, and the Environmental Engineering Laboratories in »Ê¹ÚÌåÓý's Mitchell Hall, which comprises 10,000 square feet of state-of-the-art water research space and technology.

Protecting the planet

The Vega Medal, sometimes referred to as equivalent to a "Nobel Prize in Geography," is bestowed by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden on behalf of the Swedish Society of Anthropology and Geography. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓý's researcher John Smol was this year's recipient of the lifetime recognition as the most prolific scientist regarding northern lake systems. As a paleolimnologist and foremost expert in the study of long-term global environmental changes to lakes and rivers, Dr. Smol as advanced our understanding of the impacts of pressing environmental issues, such as lake eutrophication, acidification, contaminant transport, fisheries management, and climate change with a special focus on the Arctic.

Our local lakes

Diane Orihel, »Ê¹ÚÌåÓý's National Scholar in Aquatic Ecotoxicology, is the co-lead of the pELAstic project, a globally unique large-scale study funded through NSERC's Plastic Science for a Cleaner Future program. Scientists are conducting experiments at multiple scales – from mesocosm to whole lakes – to understand the fate and ecological effects of microplastics in freshwaters. Dr. Orihel and her students are also involved in the Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup network, a regional effort to address the around 10 million kilograms of plastic flowing into the Great Lakes.

Water management educational opportunities

Understanding the need to engage communities in environmental strategies, ²Ï³Ü±ð±ð²Ô’s runs ongoing outreach programs for local communities to learn about effective water management. The (BWRC) is an interdisciplinary research and education centre that focuses on water governance, use, resources, and quality, and offers programs designed to motivate students and the public to become water stewards in their homes, classrooms, and communities. In addition to their state-of-the-art facility on »Ê¹ÚÌåÓý's campus in Kingston, researchers with BWRC have field facilities located near Perth and Tamworth in Ontario and on Melville Island in Nunavut.

^{»Ê¹ÚÌåÓý's Art of Research Submission: Old Fashioned Alchemy by Alan Chang, MSc Student (Civil Engineering), Beaty Water Research Centre, »Ê¹ÚÌåÓý}

As a satellite facility of the ²Ï³Ü±ð±ð²Ô’s University Biological Station, the offers curriculum-based programs year-round that encourage local high school students to explore and measure local biodiversity through field-based scientific investigation. In 2023, in collaboration with local Indigenous knowledge holders, teachers, and »Ê¹ÚÌåÓý's STEM faculty, Elbow Lake launched the (QUILLS) program. A series of five STEM Learning Bundles tailored to grades 7-10, QUILLS aligns with Ontario science curriculum outcomes to teach students about the biodiversity crisis, global climate change, and traditi