INTERDISCIPLINARY

Managing nitrogen legacies

Nandita Basu (professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences and Civil and Environmental Engineering) authors an interdisciplinary Nature Geoscience paper synthesizing knowledge on the critical role that legacy nitrogen plays in delaying water quality improvements. The study identifies six strategies to improve watershed management and planning: quantify lag times, harness legacy nitrogen as a resource, improve spatial targeting of conservation measures, couple field-scale and downstream measures, diversify monitoring and incorporate economic analyses of benefits.

We have to think about the legacy we leave for the future in a strategic way from both the scientific and socio-economic angles. This is a call to action for us to accept that these legacies exist and figure out how to use them to our advantage.

NANDITA BASU, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth and Environmental Sciences, University Research Chair in Water Sustainability and Ecohydrology

Addressing microplastic pollution

Philippe Van Cappellen (professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences; Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate in Ecohydrology) is leading an interdisciplinary team investigating microplastics pollution in water.

The Microplastics Fingerprinting project is helping to better understand one of the biggest mysteries for those who study plastic pollution: where does it end up in our environment? Researchers are assessing stormwater management ponds, drinking water treatment plant intakes, wastewater treatment plant discharges and stream sediments in Ontario’s Grand River watershed to understand how much plastic is accumulating and how it might impact environmental health. In addition, standards are being developed to ensure data is open, comparable and can be used to create targeted mitigation strategies.

Phosphorus loss and regional conservation practices

Merrin Macrae (professor, Geography and Environmental Management) led an interdisciplinary team that developed a regional conservation practice suitability framework using the Lake Erie watershed as a case study. They found that current estimates of the environmental efficacy and cost-effectiveness of conservation practices were developed based on a limited number of studies and involve a great deal of extrapolation rather than spatially distributed field trials. Consequently, we may not be applying the “right practice” in the “right place” to mitigate nutrient loss from fields. The resulting “one size does not fit all” framework outlines a five-step plan to achieve regionally tailored, adaptive and cost-conscious conservation practice recommendations that can be applied to watersheds that exhibit varying land characteristics and hydroclimates.

Seeding next-generation interdisciplinary research

Since 2012, the Water Institute has invested in 55 new interdisciplinary collaborations through its seed grants program. The purpose of the grants is to catalyze the development of new research teams that cross disciplinary boundaries, to advance new, strategic research areas and to position teams for external funding success. The seed grants program has been highly successful in producing short-term project outputs, such as student or early career researcher training and new partnerships and longer-term impacts, such as new funding and scientific publications. High-profile projects catalyzed by Water Institute seed grants include:

Vulnerability to Viability Global Partnership led by Prateep Nayak, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development
Impact of flooding on the accessibility and utilization of health services in Western Province, Zambia led by Craig Janes, School of Public Health Sciences
Capacity building in hydrobiogeophysics led by Fereidoun Rezanezhad, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

NEW INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATIONS FUNDED

$14.2M

OF DOWNSTREAM REVENUE GENERATED

PUBLICATIONS GENERATED

HQP TRAINED

17.1%

Return on Investment over 9 years

International

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