News

Philippe gave a keynote presentation at the Canadian Science Writers Association Conference in Toronto (June 5-8).  In his presentation, Philippe gave a broad overview of current and emerging global water issues.  He stressed the central importance of water not only for human wellbeing and prosperity, but also for maintaining healthy ecosystems. A number of key concepts, including water scarcity, water stress, ecosystem services, environmental flows and water pricing were reviewed.

​PhD student Taylor Maavara has been awarded an NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship for up to 3 years. Congratulations Taylor! 

Eight researchers from Ecohydrology Research Group have presented their work at the 57th Annual Conference on Great Lakes Research (May 26-30, 2014) in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; organized by the International Association for Great Lakes Research (IAGLR).

Oral: Mapping Marine Debris in the Great Lakes. A. Driedger; H. Dürr; K. Mitchell; O.  Lyandres; J. Cross and P. Van Cappellen

Oral: Landscape controls on Si concentration and the seasonal Si cycle. J. Hood and P. Van Cappellen

The 19th annual Waterloo Wellington Children's Groundwater Festival is taking place this week at the Waterloo Region Museum in Kitchener. Once again, Ecohydrology Group members are taking shifts volunteering this week to excite and educate local school children with water-related  activities.

UNESCO launched IHP’s 8^th phase (2014-2021) entitled “Water Security: Responses to Local, Regional and Global Challenges” (IHP-VIII, see: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002251/225103e.pdf). IHP-VIII will be built around the following 6 interrelated Themes: 1) Water-related disasters and hydrological change, 2) Groundwater in a changing world, 3) Addressing water scarcity and quality, 4) Water and human settlements of the future, 5) Ecohydrology, engineering harmony for a sustainable world, and 6) Water education, key for water security.

Philippe Van Cappellen attended the 2014 Canadian Geophysical Union conference, a Joint annual meeting with Canadian Society of Soil Science and Mantle Convection, held on May 4-7, 2014 in Banff, Canada. Ecohydrology Research Group members are presented:

Invited talk by Philippe Van Cappellen: Soil Respiration in Wetlands - A Biogeochemical Perspective. Co-authors: Fereidoun Rezanezhad, Kim Van Meter and Nandita Basu

A reporter with the Weather Network visited UW on Tuesday to interview Philippe about the ubiquity of debris in the world's oceans, which has been brought to light recently with difficulty in locating the Malaysian Airlines flight 370. Philippe highlighted the problem of widespread debris and explained the nature of ocean currents pushing debris to all parts of the oceans.

Read more: www.theweathernetwork.com/insider-insights/articles/how-much-garbage-is-actually-in-our-oceans/24452/