Grant: Major Facilities Access Grants

The Water Quality Centre (WQC) at Trent University is an integrated multidisciplinary facility that utilizes state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation in the study of water quality. The Centre focuses on methods that utilize mass spectrometry; it conducts research on both new methods for water quality analysis and applications of these methods in the natural environment. The facility combines capabilities in both the inorganic and organic chemistry fields, allowing the researchers to study a very wide range of issues and many specific contaminants. This diversity in capability of the equipment, and the diversity of the researchers from the many universities and institutes who collaborate with the Centre, make the WQC unique. In addition to water quality issues, the facilities are valuable to scientists from other fields including geology, biochemistry, biology and terrestrial ecology. Some examples of the types of research being undertaken at the Centre include the study of the release of pharmaceuticals from waste treatment facilities, the cycling of trace metal contaminants in the environment, the importance of various sources of mercury entering our lakes, and development of new methods to measure radioactive elements in the environment.   The Facility is utilized by scientists from universities, government and the private sector, both nationally and internationally. The Centre's greatest impact on research and development is in the province of Ontario, where the Centre has provided analytical services for research and development concerning water quality issues.