Features

Researchers will be using the SOWC platform to test out-of-this-world technology that will strengthen watershed data acquisition through the utilization of microsatellites. Through an international collaboration of academic, private industry, and government partners, research has begun at Alder Creek, a sub-watershed of the Grand River, to test the use of micro-satellites in water resource management [...]

Smart watersheds are getting smarter. A collaborative team consisting of researchers from the SOWC, Solinst Canada Ltd. and IBM Canada are attempting to successfully demonstrate new communications software at Alder Creek, a sub-watershed of the Grand River, which will make sensor networks more intelligent. This new technology will mark a shift from traditional static sensor [...]

In May 2013, Primodal Inc. became the first Southern Ontario Water Consortium (SOWC) user to access Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) monitoring stations with a system to develop, test and demonstrate a new real-time water monitoring and data evaluation product in a real-world environment. The system install, located along the Grand River at Brant Park, [...]

SOWC is featured in the Globe and Mail's "Canada Competes" section. The video piece focuses on how SOWC and IBM are developing a 'smarter watershed.' To view the full video, click here. An unassuming and peaceful stream that flows beneath a small bridge in Mannheim, Wilmont County is playing a large role in the work [...]

SOWC and the Grand River Conservation Authority and Primodal Inc. have signed an agreement to facilitate Primodal's access to GRCA's water quality monitoring stations for research, development and demonstration of a new monitoring technology in a real environment within the Grand River watershed. This type of agreement will allow SOWC, private sector and academic users [...]

At Canadian Forces Base Borden they are tracking underground movement. But this isn't a military operation, it is the University of Waterloo's research into watershed contamination and remediation. At CFB Borden, the site is near the base's old garbage dump in the shallow aquifer above a landfill leachate plume. Through the use of hundreds of [...]

Dr. David Major is a Branch Manager and Principal of Geosyntec's Canadian Operations, and manages the development and deployment of remediation strategies. Geosyntec is an international environmental consulting firm that has worked on projects with Fortune 500 companies, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and NASA. Geosyntec partners with private sector firms, [...]

Dr. Deborah MacLatchy is the Vice-President: Academic & Provost and a Professor of Biology at Wilfrid Laurier University, in Waterloo. An ecotoxicologist and comparative endocrinologist, Dr. MacLatchy's research focuses on the study of the effects of toxic chemicals on fish reproduction, development and growth. Ecotoxicological research plays an important role in protecting human health through [...]

Ecotoxicology is critical to understanding the effects of contaminants in our water, and fish are a key indicator in identifying which chemicals are present. The SOWC is home to world leading ecotoxicological researchers. As part of the SOWC, Dr. Deborah MacLatchy is leading the development of Wilfrid Laurier University's Centre for Cold Regions and Water [...]

The SOWC is a platform for turning water ideas into water innovations through research, development, testing and demonstration of solutions to water problems faced in Ontario and around the world. What do we do? The SOWC is building a platform to connect businesses, researchers and municipalities with facilities in real world environments to research, and [...]