Hydro-biogeochemical interactions and contaminant transport in urban ecosystems

大多数加拿大人居住在城市，城市人口正在迅速增加。由于人口密集和城市内工业区邻近，城市河流极易受到污染和生态退化的影响。城市地区河流的退化对饮用水的安全、野生动物的健康、娱乐活动以及改善这些河流流入的湖泊水质的努力构成了威胁。拟议的研究项目将侧重于提高我们对导致城市水质退化的潜在物理、化学和生物过程的理解，特别是重金属对溪流的污染。像加拿大这样的寒冷地区缺乏这样的研究项目，在那里，积雪和融化是年度水平衡的重要组成部分。该项目将直接评估这一差距。拟议的研究计划还将调查雨水管理干预措施和城市恢复工作（如湿地创造和溪流恢复）有效性的物理、化学和生物过程。该研究项目的结果将更好地为市政当局提供有关通过可持续城市发展保护城市水资源的最佳方法的信息。这也将有助于提高城市生态修复工作的经济和环境价值。

The majority of Canadians live in cities and populations within cities are rising rapidly. As a result of the dense population and proximity of industrial areas within cities, urban streams are highly susceptible to pollution and ecological degradation. The degradation of streams in urban areas represents a threat to the security of drinking water, the health of wildlife, recreation, and efforts to improve the water quality of lakes into which these streams flow. The proposed research program will focus on improving our understanding of the underlying physical, chemical, and biological processes leading to water quality degradation in cities, particularly the contamination of streams by heavy metals. Research programs such as this are lacking in cold regions like Canada, where snow accumulation and melt are important parts of the annual water balance. This program will directly assess this gap. The proposed research program will also investigate the physical, chemical, and biological processes underlying the effectiveness of stormwater management interventions and urban restoration efforts such as wetland creation and stream restoration. Results from this research program will better inform municipalities about the best means by which to protect urban water resources through sustainable urban development. It will also help to improve the economic and environmental value of urban ecological restoration efforts.