Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Urbanization is one of the most significant trends of the 21st century, affecting global economic development, energy consumption, natural resource use, and human well-being. By 2050, 70% of the world's population, some 6.4 billion people, are expected to live in towns and cities, almost doubling the current urban population and increasing water demand tenfold. The increasing demographic pressure on groundwater resources endangers the quantity, quality, and distribution of freshwater resources around the world. Without appropriate planning and adaptation, hundreds of millions of people are at risk for water shortages as a result of urban growth. Little is known about the impacts of urban development on the groundwater flow regime. Our research elaborates methodologies dedicated to urban groundwater investigation and new concepts for modeling of urban groundwater resources management. This will be achieved in three steps, by: 1-Exploring the typology of urban groundwater renewal. Isotopes and geochemical tracers of the hydrological cycle are compelling tools to investigate the urban water cycle. Here, we methodically implement water isotope investigations to deconvolute signals into comprehensive and measurable flow units to accurately quantify urban groundwater renewal. 2-Innovating tracer methodologies to quantify urban resource sustainability. By exploring isotopic effects during the degradation and transport of molecules of anthropogenic origin (e.g., caffeine), we will unravel processes related to waste water contamination of ground water resources. 3-Designing new tools for urban water protection and management. Understanding of urban groundwater dynamics and contamination offers us the opportunity to better face these problems and create an index-based tool to assess natural groundwater vulnerability to contaminant pollution in urban settings and thereby protect future resources. My Discovery research program integrates physical observations, data acquisition, interpretation, and model development for urban aquifers, and fosters the long-term planning of urban water cycle management and use. HQP will be trained to establish and disseminate innovative on-site diagnostic methods, and to transfer methods for predicting and managing long-term freshwater resources sustainably in urban environments. They will contribute to raising decision maker and stakeholder awareness of urban water management issues for long-term planning. These combined advances will respond to growing societal needs in terms of water resource consumption and management. Our asset-backed, high-quality academic and professional programs will have immediate socioeconomic impacts from local (watershed organizations, Québec local authorities) to international scales. High-level training will be offered to 3 PhD, 2 MSc, and 5 BSc, with close collaborations with national and international research institutions.