Past WWD events

Since 2010, the Laurier Institute for Water Science has hosted WWD events centered on regional and northern water issues, showcasing the breadth and depth of water research in Waterloo and the Northwest Territories. Our WWD events act as a meeting place for water researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders to share knowledge, spark collaboration, and plan future projects.

Attend Our 2026 WWD Conference

This year's conference will feature student poster sessions and research talks, panel discussions, guest speakers, networking opportunities, our annual general meeting, and a keynote address by Professor Andrew Tanentzap of Trent University.

Date: Thursday, March 26, 2026
Location: Senate and Board Chambers, Paul Martin Centre, Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5

In 2015, the UN-Water - World Water Day campaign theme was ‘Water and Sustainable Development’.

Keynote Speakers
Chris Turner

Title of Talk: The Next Leap in Sustainability: Getting from Less Bad to Much Better for the World's Water Supply.

Chris is one of Canada's leading writers and speakers on sustainability and the global green economy and author of five books. He is one of Canada's leading writers and speakers on sustainability and the global green economy and the author of five books. His most recent book is How to Breathe Underwater: Field Reports from an Age of Radical Change, a collection of his award-winning essays and feature writing. His 2013 book The War on Science was a co-winner of the Writers' Union of Canada's Freedom to Read Award. He was a Berton House writer-in-residence in Dawson City, Yukon, in 2013. He lives in Calgary with his wife and two children, where he is working on a book about the oil sands.

Robert Sandford, EPCOR Chair of the Canadian Partnership Initiative in support of the United Nations "Water for Life Decade". This initiative aims to inform the public on water issues and translate scientific research outcomes into language decision-makers can use to craft timely and meaningful public policy.

Title of Talk: The Future We Want: Water and Climate Security in a Warming World.

Bob Sandford also remains the Chair of the Canadian Partnership Initiative in support of United Nations “Water for Life” Decade, a national partnership initiative that aims to inform the public on water issues and translate scientific research outcomes into language decision-makers can use to craft timely and meaningful public policy. Bob is also a Fellow of the Centre for at the University of Saskatchewan and a Fellow of the Biogeoscience Institute at the University of Calgary. He sits on the Advisory Board of Living Lakes Canada and is also a member of the Forum for Leadership on Water (FLOW), a national water policy research group centred in Toronto. Bob is also senior advisor on water issues for the Interaction Council, a global public policy forum composed of more than thirty former Heads of State including Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, U.S. President Bill Clinton and the former Prime Minister of Norway, Gro Brundtland. In 2013, Alberta Ventures magazine recognized Bob as one of the year’s 50 most influential Albertans. In addition to many other books, Bob is also the author of a number of high-profile works on water including Cold Matters: The State & Fate of Canada’s Snow and Ice and Saving Lake Winnipeg. Bob is also the co-author with Kerry Freek of Flood Forecast: Climate Risk & Resilience in Canada, all published by Rocky Mountain Books. His latest book, The Columbia River Treaty: a Primer was published in association with Simon Fraser University’s Adaptation to Climate Change Team in the fall of 2014.

Screening of the award winning film Watermark. Shot in stunning 5K ultra high-definition video, Watermark shows water as a terraforming element and the scale of its reach, as well as the magnitude of our need and use. In Watermark, the viewer is immersed in a world defined by a magnificent force of nature that we all too often take for granted- until it is gone.

In 2014, the UN-Water - World Water Day campaign theme was ‘water and energy’.

Keynote Speakers
Cecelia Brooks, Water Grandmother at Canadian Rivers Institute

Cecelia Brooks is the Water Grandmother with the Canadian Rivers Institute at the University of New Brunswick and Science Advisor to the Assembly of First Nations Chiefs of New Brunswick. As Water Grandmother, she works in the First Nations communities to provide technical support in water related issues impacting First Nations people. As the science advisor to the chiefs, she provides technical support to the chiefs of New Brunswick on all issues that impact the environment.

Monique Dubé, Project Coordinator, Environmental Performance Improvement, Shell Heavy Oil; Science Director, Canadian Rivers Institute
Title of Talk: Water and Energy in the Canadian Oil Sands: a Paradigm Shift for Environmental Performance Improvement

Monique Dubé was a Canada Research Chair in Aquatic Ecosystem Health Diagnosis at the University of Saskatchewan, and has operated in the consulting and regulatory sectors with over 20 years of professional experience. Her area of interest is in integrated water resource management and watershed-scale cumulative effects assessment. However, she also holds experience in environmental impact assessment, air quality assessment and wetland reclamation and treatment. She has published over 180 contributions, is the recipient of an NSERC Synergy Award, and in 2011 was awarded Canadian Geographic Scientist of the Year and a YWCA Women of Distinction. Her work has influenced federal legislation, national environmental impact assessment practices, cumulative effects assessments for Canadian freshwaters, and contributed to patented technology for wastewater treatment. She has served on Scientific Advisory Panels for UNEP (Development of Global Biodiversity Indicators, World Conservation Monitoring Centre; Global Environment Monitoring Program), UNESCO (Chair, Education and Capacity-Building Task Force on Ecohydrology, International Hydrological Programme), and Canada/US Partnerships (Long-term Receiving Water Study, United States National Council for Air and Stream Improvement). She has participated in peer reviews of the Alberta oil sands Regional Aquatic Monitoring Program (RAMP) and was a member of the development team for the recent federal/provincial regional monitoring program in the oil sands. Her THREATS software (The Healthy River Ecosystem AssessmenT System) and watershed health assessment approach has received international attention for its contribution to assessing and managing Canadian watersheds towards sustainability.

In 2013, the UN-Water - World Water Day campaign theme was International Year of Water Cooperation.

Activities:
Discussion and Viewing of the award-winning documentary People of a Feather with Joel Heath, President and Co-Founder of the Arctic Eider Society.

Keynote Speakers
Gail Krantzberg, McMaster University

Title of Talk: Great Lakes, Great Responsibilities.

Gail Krantzberg is Professor and Director of the Centre for Engineering and Public Policy in the School of Engineering at McMaster University offering Canada’s first Master’s Degree in Engineering and Public Policy. Gail completed her M.Sc. and Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in environmental science and freshwaters. She worked for the Ontario Ministry of Environment from 1988 to 2001, as Coordinator of Remedial Action Plan and Great Lakes Programs, and Senior Policy Advisor on Great Lakes. In her tenure there she was intensely engaged in binational Great Lakes science and policy venues, including direct interactions with the Great Lakes Commission, Board membership on the Great Lakes Observing system, president of the International Association of Great Lakes Research, The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, Board Member of the Canadian Water Foundation, member of the International Joint Commission’s Water Quality Board, Sediment Priority Action Commitee, Indicators Implementation Task Force, and Council of Great Lakes Research Managers. In 2007 she was appointed as an adjunct faculty member of the United Nations University Institute for Water and Environmental Health and participated in the twinning of the Laurentian and African Great Lakes (principally Lake Victoria). She has authored four books and more than 130 scientific and policy articles on issues pertaining to ecosystem quality and sustainability and is a frequent speaker to media and the public.

Bruce Pardy, Queen's University

Title of Talk: Drowning in Confusion: The Debate over Water Rights

Bruce Pardy is a professor of environmental law at Queen’s University. He has written extensively on environmental governance, ecosystem management, climate change, water policy and environmental liability, and has taught environmental law at law schools in Canada, the United States and New Zealand. Professor Pardy practiced litigation at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in Toronto, and sits on the Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal as an adjudicator and mediator.

Poster Awards
Congratulations to the students listed below as they were awarded the top poster prizes for each category.

Hydrological and Atmospheric Sciences (Sponsored by AquaResource Inc.):
Kim Van Meter - University of Waterloo (Monsoon Harvests: Assessing the Impact of Distributed Storage Tanks on the Vulnerability of Subsistence-Level Agriculture, Tamil Nadu, India)

Water Treatment and Technology:
Carolyn Chan - University of Guelph (Constructed Wetland for Domestic Greywater Use)

Water Policy, Governance and Management (Sponsored by Stantec Consulting Inc.):
Marie-Clare Brisbois - University of Waterloo (Collaborative Water Governance, Natural Resource Industries and Influence: Assessing the Value of Collaboration When Significant Power Imbalances Exist)

Aquatic Ecology & Toxicology:
Phillip Pham-Ho - Wilfrid Laurier University (Mechanisms of Brain Swelling in Rainbow Trout and Ammonia Tolerant Goldfish)

Cold Regions Research:
Jacqueline Ho - University of Waterloo (The Lag Effects of Wildfire on Sediment-Associated Metal Toxicity and Bioaccumulation in the Crowsnest River, Alberta)

Past WWD events

Attend Our 2026 WWD Conference

2022

2021

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

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