Field instrumentation for source water protection

尽管淡水资源丰富，但作为经济和娱乐活动的关键要素，加拿大的淡水资源正受到威胁。人们只需考虑沃尔克顿的受污染的水、马尼托巴省和魁北克省的洪水、渔业的崩溃、入侵物种的殖民、全球变暖和重金属污染，就能认识到我们的经济活动和对水的贪婪需求如何对加拿大自然水生系统的可持续性产生不利影响。英国女王大学海岸工程研究实验室拥有世界一流的水环境实验室模拟实验室的历史。与滑铁卢大学计算机模型师的新合作倡议产生了对仪器的迫切需求，以便收集现场数据。该研究工具和仪器应用程序寻求通过请求仪器来测量湖泊中的地下温度、电流剖面、溶解氧、pH、浊度和藻类浓度来满足这一需求。湿地和沿海海洋。此外，现场数据将用于淡水可持续性的诊断性研究，并驱动和验证能够运行预测性模拟以指导管理战略的水动力和水质组合计算机模型。通过收集现场数据将启用的具体项目包括：安大略湖饮用水保护、萨德伯里附近的酸性湖泊、伊利湖低溶解氧、地表水和地下水之间的连通性、水动力学模型改进以及人工鱼礁结构和湿地的流动。将为最多14名研究生和2名博士后科学家提供专业培训。在收集实地数据和使用计算机模型以解决加拿大水资源面临的可持续性问题方面。

Despite their abundance, Canada's fresh water resources, a key element for economic and recreational activities, are being threatened. One must only ponder the contaminated water in Walkerton, the flooding in Manitoba and Québec, the collapse of fisheries, invasive species colonizations, global warming and heavy metal contamination, to realize how our economic activities and voracious demand for water are adversely impacting the sustainability of Canada's natural aquatic systems.  Our water resources are sufficiently threatened that, "Preserving freshwater ecosystems and the quality and availability of Canada's fresh water is perhaps the most pressing of the many environmental challenges on the national horizon" (Government of Canada - State of the Environment, 2001).     The Queen's University Coastal Engineering Research Laboratory has a history of world-class laboratory modelling of the aquatic environment.  New collaborative initiatives with computer modellers from the University of Waterloo have created an urgent need for instrumentation to allow collection of field data.  This Research Tools and Instruments application seeks to address this need by requesting instrumentation to measure subsurface temperatures, current profiles, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity and algae concentration in lakes, wetlands and coastal oceans.  The field data will be used for diagnostic research on freshwater sustainability and to drive and validate combined hydrodynamic and water quality computer models that are capable of running predictive simulations to guide management strategies.  Specific projects that will be enabled by the collection of field data include research on: drinking water protection in Lake Ontario, acidic lakes near Sudbury, low dissolved oxygen in Lake Erie, connectivity between surface and ground water, hydrodynamic model improvement and flow through artificial reef structures and wetlands.  Specialized training will be provided for up to 14 graduate students and two post-doctoral scientists, in the collection of field data and the use of computer models to address sustainability issues facing Canada's water resources.