Building Smarter Water Futures: Dr. Maricor Arlos Returns to Waterloo with a Mission to Rethink Contaminants, Technology, and Trust
After nearly a decade away, Dr. Maricor Arlos returned to the University of Waterloo in 2024, not to retrace her steps but to reshape the path forward. A Waterloo graduate three times over, Arlos had spent years conducting research in Switzerland and Alberta, gaining a sharper, more global perspective on water management, stakeholder priorities, and the complex role of contaminants in the environment. Now, as Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and head of the Arlos Research Lab, she’s [...]
OWC Innovation Showcase Summer Series: Advancing Water Innovation Across Ontario
This July, the Ontario Water Consortium hosted its Innovation Showcase Summer Series, a three-part webinar program highlighting applied research and emerging technologies across Ontario’s water sector. With close to 200 registrants, the series convened municipal leaders, researchers, engineers, and technology developers around practical solutions to the complex challenges facing water infrastructure, operations, and climate resilience. The series opened with a spotlight on flood forecasting, an increasingly urgent need as climate-driven hydrological extremes grow more common across Ontario. Dr. Andre Erler, [...]
Investigating PFAS in Canadian Water Systems: Cross-Sector Collaboration Advances Research on Emerging Contaminants
On June 5, 2025, the Ontario Water Consortium (OWC) hosted the second in a series of webinars exploring the progress of a major collaborative research initiative focused on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in Canadian water systems. Co-led by Professor Scott Hopkins (University of Waterloo) and Professor Franco Berruti (Western University), the project exemplifies how academic, municipal, and private-sector partners can work together to address one of the most complex and urgent issues facing water systems today. The initiative began [...]