Ecohydrology at the University of Waterloo

Integrating Environmental Water Research Across Multi Scales and Disciplines 

Water is our most precious natural resource. All human activities, from agriculture and industrial processes to domestic uses, depend on water of sufficient quantity and quality. This is also true for natural ecosystems. In contrast to highly visible water quantity stressors, such as flash floods and prolonged droughts, changes in water quality are often more gradual and more difficult to detect, and their cumulative impacts more difficult to predict and manage. Water quality deterioration, however, poses more pervasive and chronic risks to the economy, human health and the ecological life-support systems of the planet.  

Water quality degradation is a global phenomenon. In Canada, for example, harmful and nuisance algal blooms are a persistent problem for many freshwater bodies, including the iconic Laurentian Great Lakes, while many of our First Nations communities still live under drinking water advisories. Globally, awareness is also growing that climate change adaptation must be an integral part of planning and implementing effective water management policies and practices.

For general inquires about the Ecohydrology Research Group, please email ecohydrology@uwaterloo.ca.

News

A new paper published in the journal Applied Geochemistry relates data on lake water chemistry to land cover changes and road salt applications for Lake Wilcox located in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. The paper is co -authored by ERG members Jovana Radosavljevic, Stephanie Slowinski, Fereidoun Rezanezhad, Mahyar Shafii and Philippe Van Cappellen, alongside co-author Bahram Gharabaghi.

A new paper published in the journal Chemosphere presents the results of experiments looking at the interactions and competition between dissolved phosphorus and silicon (mostly found in the forms of the anions phosphate and silicate) during the precipitation of iron(III) oxyhydroxides as a result of iron(II) oxidation. The paper’s first author, Lu Huang, is a former ERG PhD student. Her co-authors are ERG members Chris T. Parsons, Stephanie Slowinski and Philippe Van Cappellen.