Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

Despite their abundance, Canada's fresh water resources, a key element for economic and recreational activities, are being threatened. One must only ponder the contaminated water in Walkerton, the flooding in Manitoba and Québec, the collapse of fisheries, invasive species colonizations, global warming and heavy metal contamination, to realize how our economic activities and voracious demand for water are adversely impacting the sustainability of Canada's natural aquatic systems.  Our water resources are sufficiently threatened that, "Preserving freshwater ecosystems and the quality and availability of Canada's fresh water is perhaps the most pressing of the many environmental challenges on the national horizon" (Government of Canada - State of the Environment, 2001).     The Queen's University Coastal Engineering Research Laboratory has a history of world-class laboratory modelling of the aquatic environment.  New collaborative initiatives with computer modellers from the University of Waterloo have created an urgent need for instrumentation to allow collection of field data.  This Research Tools and Instruments application seeks to address this need by requesting instrumentation to measure subsurface temperatures, current profiles, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity and algae concentration in lakes, wetlands and coastal oceans.  The field data will be used for diagnostic research on freshwater sustainability and to drive and validate combined hydrodynamic and water quality computer models that are capable of running predictive simulations to guide management strategies.  Specific projects that will be enabled by the collection of field data include research on: drinking water protection in Lake Ontario, acidic lakes near Sudbury, low dissolved oxygen in Lake Erie, connectivity between surface and ground water, hydrodynamic model improvement and flow through artificial reef structures and wetlands.  Specialized training will be provided for up to 14 graduate students and two post-doctoral scientists, in the collection of field data and the use of computer models to address sustainability issues facing Canada's water resources.