Overview
Our water is at risk.
In Canada and globally, we are facing unprecedented water-related challenges. Canada has some of the world's highest rates of warming, which impacts infrastructure, institutions, ecosystems and human health. Given that half the world's population and all of Canada are dependent upon water from cold regions, the grand challenge for water science in Canada and globally is: "How can we best forecast, prepare for and manage water futures in the face of dramatically increasing risks?"

Global Water Futures: Solutions to water threats in an era of global change
GWF’s overarching goal is to deliver risk management solutions—informed by leading-edge water science and supported by innovative decision-making tools—to manage water futures in Canada and other cold regions where global warming is changing landscapes, ecosystems, and the water environment. End-user needs will be our beacon and will drive strategy and shape our science.
GWF aims to deliver the following outcomes and impacts:
1) Improved disasater warning
Currently, we lack the scientific knowledge, monitoring and modeling technologies, and national forecasting capacity to predict the risk and severity of potentially catastrophic events in Canada. These knowledge gaps and technology barriers have resulted in significant loss of life and property in recent years. GWF will create Canada’s first national water disaster warning system by creating robust forecasting tools capable of warning stakeholders of impending floods, seasonal water flows, droughts and water quality. Apps, underpinned by our models created in other pillars, will be developed to deliver these systems in a user-friendly manner. These solutions will save lives and infrastructure and provide operational efficiencies to stakeholders and industries such as water managers and hydropower companies.
2) Predicting water futures
The world lacks water data on a scale to make informed decisions, and we cannot forecast future climate impacts without better models to assess changes in our human/natural land and water systems. These limitations create risks for water supplies, water quality and sustainability. Though a comprehensive research program that integrates multiple disciplines, GWF will establish a more holistic understanding of our changing climate, land, water and ecosystems. This expansive knowledge will create more robust mathematical models that will increase accuracy of our future predictions of water quantity and quality, as well as landscape and ecosystem change for all major Canadian river basins, allowing for scenario modeling of land and water futures. Apps and software that incorporate these models will be developed with the end user in mind for integration into daily decision-making.
3) Adapting and managing risk
Nationally and globally, we lack the governance mechanisms, management strategies, and policy tools needed to reduce the risk of water threats, design adaptive strategies to cope with uncertainty, and take advantage of economic opportunities that arise as change unfolds. GWF will provide decision-makers in government and across industries and agriculture the necessary risk-management models tools to make evidence-based decisions that result in optimal socioeconomic outcomes. These scenario-based tools will be informed by our transdisciplinary research program and will be customized by sector. For example, GWF will provide government with evidence and guidance on adaptive governance; Indigenous communities with decision-making tools to adapt to changing water quality; urban communities with evidence to adapt and respond to flood risk; agriculture with tailored weather inputs for precision farming and tools for beneficial management practices; industry with guidance on risks and sustainability, and tools to better assess and manage water and environmental risks and liabilities.
In sum, GWF will position Canada as a
a) global leader in water science for the world’s cold regions, where snow, ice, and frozen soils control the storage and release of water,
b) global partner of choice for transdisciplinary water research, and
c) a provider for Canada and the world of strategic tools to manage water futures.
Major Funding Partners
Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) is a federal program which aims to place Canada at the forefront of global research that is of economic benefit to Canada.
In September 2016, the University of Saskatchewan was awarded $77.84 million over seven years from CFREF to establish the CFREF project “Global Water Futures: Solutions to Water Threats in an Era of Global Change”. GWF has grown to a total funding package of $143.67 million through linked contributions from the University of Saskatchewan ($17.5 million), University of Waterloo ($15 million), McMaster University ($12.14 million), and Wilfrid Laurier University ($10.58 million) and various industrial partners.






Partners
- University of Saskatchewan
- University of Waterloo
- McMaster University
- Wilfrid Laurier University
- University of Guelph
- University of British Columbia
- University of Northern British Columbia
- University of Calgary
- University of Laval
- McGill University
- University of Quebec at Montreal
- University of Alberta
- University de Montreal
- University of Manitoba
- University of Victoria
- Brock University
- Canadian Rivers Institute (University of New Brunswick and University of Prince Edward Island)
- Yukon College
- Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) – Atmospheric Science and Technology Directorate & Water Science and Technology Directorate
- ECCC – Meteorological Services of Canada
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
- Health Canada
- Public Health Agency Canada
- Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada
- Parks Canada
- Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) - Forest Services
- NRCan - Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation
- NRCan - Geological Survey of Canada
- Canadian Space Agency
- Alberta Innovates
- Alberta Environment and Parks
- BC Hydro
- BC Ministry of Energy and Mines
- BC Ministry of Environment
- Government of Northwest Territories (GNWT) - Department of Education, Culture and Employment
- GNWT - Department of Health and Social Services
- GNWT - Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment
- GNWT - Department of Lands
- GNWT - Department of Municipal and Community Affairs
- GNWT - Department of Public Works and Services
- GNWT - Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources
- GNWT - Premier
- GNWT - NWT Power Corp
- Great Lake Fisheries Commission
- Hydro-Quebec
- Innovation Saskatchewan
- Mackenzie River Basin Board
- Manitoba Hydro
- Manitoba Ministry of Conservation and Water Stewardship
- Ontario Ministry for Agriculture - OMAFRA
- Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change
- Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation
- Ontario Power Generation
- Prairie Provinces Water Board
- South Basin Mayors & Reeves
- Yukon Government - Executive Council Office
- Yukon Premier
- Aquanty
- Aquatics Informatics
- Areva Resources Canada
- Buffalo Treatment Plant
- Campbell Scientific
- City of Calgary
- ComDev
- Crescent Point
- Dominion Diamond Ekati Corp
- Drinking Water Treatment Plants, Prince Albert
- EnviroSim Associates Ltd
- EPCOR
- ESRI Canada - GIWS Software/ Data/ Consulting
- EXACTearth
- Geo-Slope International Ltd.
- Golder Associates
- IBM
- INCAS3, Netherlands
- Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction
- Insurance Bureau of Canada
- International Copper Association
- International Lead Association (Teck and Glencore Canada)
- International Minerals Innovation Institute
- International Zinc Association
- Matrix Solutions Inc.
- North Rim
- PwC
- RBR Ltd.
- RESPEC, USA
- Saskatchewan Research Council
- Solinst
- Thermo Scientific
- Timber Works Inc
- Water Services, Transportation and Environmental Services, Region of Waterloo
- AirMOSS - University of Southern California
- Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (Germany)
- Australian National University
- British Geological Survey
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford UK
- Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences
- CliC, GEWEX
- CNR-IASC Bologna, Italy
- Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- ETH Zurich, Switzerland
- Future Earth - Montreal
- GEWEX, WCRP
- Gorgan University of Agricultural Sci.& Natural Resources, Iran
- University of Idaho, USA
- Imperial College London, UK
- Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, India
- Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain
- International Arctic Research Center (US), Univesity of Alaska
- LTHE Grenoble, France
- NASA ABoVE - JPL USA
- National University of Columbia
- National Centre for Atmospheric Research, USA
- Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), US Department of Commerce
- Norwegian Institute for Water Research - NIVA
- Oregon State University, USA
- SLU, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
- Snow Research Center, Grenoble, Meteo-France
- Sustainable Water Futures, International Secretariat
- Swiss Snow and Avalance Institute (WSL), Davos, Switzerland
- The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) - Australia
- UD Department of Agriculture
- UNESCO - International Hydrological Programme
- Universidad Austral de Chile
- University of Aberdeen, Scotland
- University of California at Los Angles, USA
- University of Chile
- University of Edinburgh, UK
- University of Innsbruck, Austria
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienne (BOKU), Austria
- University of Northumbria, UK
- University of Queensland, Australia
- University of Utrecht, Netherlands
- University of Washington, Seattle, USA
- University of Wellington, Victoria, New Zealand
- Bow River Basin Council
- Canadian Red Cross
- Deerwood Soil and Water Management Association
- Ducks unlimited
- Experimental Lake Area
- GIFS UofS/ CFREF Designing Crops
- GLEON
- GREON
- Meewasin Valley Authority
- Okanagan Basin Water Board
- OURANOS
- Partners for Sask River Basin
- Prince Albert Model Forest
- Red Deer River Watershed Alliance
- Southern Ontario Water Consortium
- Beardy’s and Okemasis First Nation
- Champagne and Aishihik First Nations
- Cumberland House Cree Nation
- Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations - FSIN
- Mistawasis First Nation
- SRDP - Fort Resolution Metis Council
- Tlicho Government
Contact Us
General Inquiries
Global Water Futures
National Hydrology Research Centre
11 Innovation Boulevard
Saskatoon, SK.