Urban Ecohydrology: Nature-inspired solutions for urban water management, Canada
Description
Location
Sketch
Information about lithology/geochemistry:
The demosite locations are within the drainage basins of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario the most downstream Laurentian Great Lakes shared by Canada and the USA. Regional climate is cold-temperate. The demosite network is managed by the Ecohydrology Research Group of the University of Waterloo in collaboration with municipal (City of Kitchener, Municipality of Waterloo), regional (Toronto and Region Conservation Authority), and national (Environment and Climate Change Canada) agencies.
Main Description
- The demosite offers access to streams, lakes, and wetlands, as well as stormwater ponds, bioretention cells, and other blue-green management practices in urban and peri-urban landscapes. Demosite users benefit from the technical expertise, research facilities, and knowledge mobilization capacity of the University of Waterloo’s Water Institute (https://uwaterloo.ca/water-institute/).
Enhance ecohydrological processes in novel ecosystem
YES
Apply complementary Ecohydrological processes in high impacted system
NO
This table presents the different categories of ecosystem services that ecosystem can provide, divided in:
Provisioning Services are ecosystem services that describe the material or energy outputs from ecosystems. They include food, water and other resources.
Regulating Services are the services that ecosystems provide by acting as regulators eg. regulating the quality of air and soil or by providing flood and disease control.
Ecosystem services "that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services". These include services such as nutrient recycling, primary production and soil formation.
Cultural Services corresponds nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experiences.
EH Principles
Quantification of the hydrological processes at catchment scale and mapping the impacts
ECOHYDROLOGY ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS
Ongoing applied research investigates the role of vegetation surrounding stormwater ponds and planted in bioretention cells in co-sequestering nutrients and CO2
Phytotechnology
An engineering firm is partnering with the research project to tune the hydraulics of bioretention systems to ecosystem service delivery targets
Hydrological Flow
Ongoing applied research focuses on biogeochemical interventions in existing stormwater management systems that improve carbon and nutrient sequestration and GHG reductions (pond design and maintenance regime, amendments, bioremediation).
Ecohydrological Infrastructure
Major Issues
Expected Outcomes
Identified the mechanisms of phosphorus retention in bioretention systems
Linked urban lake salinization to eutrophication symptoms
Quantified microplastics accumulation in stormwater ponds
Developed SWMM models for urban catchments of the demosite
First GHG flux measurements carried out.
Latest Results
Contacts
Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen
- frezanezhad@uwaterloo.ca
- University of Waterloo
Social ecohydrological system
EH Objectives
EH Methodology
Catchment Ecohydrological sub-system
Objectives
Stakeholders
Catchment Sociological sub-system
Activities