Human health and well-being are greatly impacted by the health and quality of services provided by local ecosystems. This project aimed to make this relationship more clear and to enrich peoples’ understanding of their impacts on nature and, in turn, nature’s impact on their well-being.
The goal of this research was to better understand the complex interactions between First Nations and colonial water governance in British Columbia, including: how colonial water governance frameworks have impacted different First Nations; barriers and opportunities for First Nations in the existing system; and the potential implications of a shift towards collaborative watershed governance. This [...]
The key focus of this research was to understand the role of Ontario's Water Response Teams in decision-making, and to explore how international experiences can inform the drought management process. In partnership with representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and Conservation Ontario, this project investigated [...]
This project collected information on Liard First Nation’s drinking water access, safety and sustainability in order to help community leaders make decisions about supply, management and policy. Using a community-based research method, researchers tested the quality of 40 private drinking water wells that are not regularly monitored; studied how the area’s groundwater and surface water [...]
Community-based water monitoring can increase the resources available for monitoring, promote community-led environmental stewardship and connect scientific information to watershed management. In this project, staff from non-governmental organizations, community volunteers and government representatives involved in watershed monitoring were interviewed and surveyed.
The impacts from increased frequency and severity of summer droughts and forest fires in regions like Alberta are becoming a growing concern, as they could lead to increased risks in drinking water system outages, and also have negative impacts on downstream water quality. This project provided an estimate of the monetary value that Albertans place [...]
This project looked at how to convert a proposal’s expected impacts on water quality into information about changes in economic values. Academic researchers in the fields of biology and economics were brought together with government staff to co-create new forms of knowledge. The goal was to develop a flexible, computer-based model that could be used [...]
The Water Knowledge Application Network (WatKAN) was created to improve the understanding of and ability to predict the impacts of permafrost thaw on the shared water resources in the North. This network builds capacity and predictive tools that predict the rate and pattern of permafrost thaw and resulting changes in landcover and water supply in [...]
At Canadian Water Network, we believe that tackling water issues is a gateway to enabling real progress on Canada’s biggest challenges in energy, infrastructure renewal, public health, agriculture and finance. Our organization is uniquely positioned to play a key role in bridging the gaps on knowledge and policy, to get more value from Canada’s water [...]
This project studied how agricultural soils responded to short- and long-term applications of alkaline-stabilized biosolids (ASB), including: the impact of alkaline stabilization on emerging substances of concern transport in soils and water; how emerging substances of concern impacted biological end-point health indicators; and optimal rate and frequency of ASB land applications.