Fish physiology research to help guide municipal wastewater treatment practices in Hamilton Harbour

拟议的研究将量化废水排放物暴露对汉密尔顿港鱼类的生物影响。鱼类长期暴露于废水中，可以被认为是生态系统健康和功能的哨兵，但我们对废水中的许多污染物对野生鱼类的影响知之甚少。拟议的研究将确定废水如何影响蓝鳃太阳鱼的生理，蓝鳃太阳鱼是加拿大南部在生态和经济上都很重要的物种。这项工作将解决蓝鳃太阳鱼是否能够适应和科普废水暴露，或者它们的自然应对机制是否被克服，它们的健康是否被降低。拟议研究的结果将被汉密尔顿水务公司（该公司在汉密尔顿市提供市政供水服务）用于帮助完善和最 有效地管理其废水处理实践。该项目将为汉密尔顿水务公司建立一种新的、持久的经济利益关系，并将创造新的知识，为加拿大水资源管理和水生生态系统健康和可持续性的监管政策提供信息。

The proposed research will quantify the biological impacts of wastewater effluent exposure on fish in Hamilton Harbour. Fish are chronically exposed to wastewater and can be thought of as sentinels of ecosystem health and function, but we know very little about the impacts of many contaminants in wastewater on fish in the wild. The proposed research will determine how wastewater effluent impacts the physiology of bluegill sunfish, a species that is both ecologically and economically important in Southern Canada. The work will address whether bluegill sunfish can adjust and cope with wastewater exposure, or whether their natural coping mechanisms are being overcome and their fitness being reduced. Results of the proposed research will be used by Hamilton Water (which provides municipal water services in the City of Hamilton) to help refine and most effectively manage their wastewater treatment practices. The project will forge a new and lasting relationship with economic benefits for Hamilton Water, and will create new knowledge to inform water resource management and regulatory policy on the health and sustainability of aquatic ecosystems in Canada.