Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Urban areas worldwide are facing tremendous water challenges including water insecurity, flooding, and highly polluted surface waters and groundwaters. These challenges, which have immense economic, environmental, and societal impacts, are being compounded by growing urban populations, aging water infrastructure, and climate change. With nearly 75% of Canadians already living in urban areas, sustainable and integrated urban water management and policy is urgently needed. Groundwater plays a key role in urban hydrology and pollution, but its role is generally poorly considered in urban water management. This has produced engineering solutions, and programs and policy that can be ineffective, and in some cases, have negative environmental impacts. The lack of strong consideration of groundwater processes in urban water management, particularly in cities where groundwater is not used for water supply, is due to the complexity of urban groundwater systems combined with an "out of sight, out of mind" mentality. Urban groundwater systems are complicated by, for example, human water inputs and extractions (e.g. leaky sewers and supply wells), altered land cover, interactions with infrastructure, and widespread poorly characterized contaminant sources. With billions of dollars being invested annually in urban water infrastructure and programs across Canada there is a critical need for improved understanding of urban groundwater and its connectivity within the larger urban water system to guide implementation of effective engineering solutions, management, and policy that protect human and environmental health. The long-term goal of this program is to improve understanding of urban groundwater processes including the interactions with stormwater and surface water systems, and to apply this understanding to generate new approaches and tools for improved integration of groundwater in urban water management tools, decisions, and policy. Over the next 5 years, the short-term objectives are to O1) evaluate interactions and feedbacks between infiltration-based stormwater management systems, and groundwater flows and contaminant pathways, O2) determine factors impacting the connectivity between urban groundwater systems and streams, and O3) determine factors controlling the contribution of groundwater in polluting urban streams. These objectives will be achieved by combining novel field investigations with advanced numerical modeling, data analysis, and knowledge transfer. 4 graduate and 6 undergraduate students will be trained in an inclusive and equitable research environment that works closely with government and industry partners. The program will generate new leading scientific knowledge and innovative tools urgently needed by engineers, urban water managers, and policymakers. The program will also produce engineers with unique skills required to manage urban water challenges which are rapidly worsening due to accelerating human and climate stressors.