Global Water Futures Observatories a critical step towards water security for Canadians

Now six years on, GWF is the largest and most published university-led freshwater research program in the world and includes 213 faculty investigators, 531 end-users, 1,826 new researchers, and a network of 23 Canadian universities working on 65 projects and core teams.

The program has also established or operates 76 water observation sites, 27 deployable measurement systems, and 31 state-of-the-art university-based environmental and aquatic analysis facilities.

These facilities monitor things like algae activity in freshwater lakes that are the drinking water source for millions of people; snowpacks and glaciers in the high Canadian Rockies that feed the rivers and streams of western North America and can contribute to catastrophic flooding; the health of the Great Lakes and contaminants in groundwater used as drinking water sources for Indigenous communities.

Thanks to new funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) Major Science Initiatives (MSI), these critical research stations and their data management system will continue to operate under the GWF umbrella as the Global Water Futures Observatories (GWFO).

“This funding means the observational core of Global Water Futures will carry on to at least 2029. Thee tremendous heritage of observations that go back to the early 1960s at Canadian hydrological research basins will continue to be honoured and maintained as sources of science for our professors, places to train our graduate students, and places to test our models and make new discoveries about the changing hydrology in Canada, from the Arctic down to the Great Lakes,” said Dr. John Pomeroy (PhD), USask distinguished professor and director of GWF, and the Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and Climate Change.

“The observations will help us to continue to develop solutions to manage and conserve Canada’s water supplies and major rivers.” 

GWFO provides data to provide early warning and test beds for predictions of flood, drought, and water quality issues, and operates across seven provinces and territories, including the Great Lakes Basin.

USask leads the nine-university collaboration that operates the network to monitor and help support the development of solutions for the impending water crisis that Canadians face due to climate change, inadequate water management, the proliferation of toxic contaminants, and environmental degradation.

The announcement of $15.25 million in funding for the $40.4 million GWFO came in late August along with several other USask projects, including $2.6 million for SuperDARN Canada, $53.9 million for the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), and $97 million for the Canadian Light Source (CLS). 

GWFO Field Observation Sites grouped by major water drainage basin

Yukon River Basin

1. Wolf Creek Research Basin
2. Tombstone Water Observatory

Mackenzie River Basin

3. Havikpak Creek Research Basin
4. Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway
5. Smith Creek
6. Kakisa and Tathlina Lakes
7. Bogg Creek and surround areas
8. Trail Valley Creek Research Basin
9. Baker Creek Research Basin
10. Peace-Athabasca Delta / Wood Buffalo National Park
11. Dehcho Lake Sampling Network
12. Fire Ecology Network
13. Athabasca Glacier Research Basin
14. Britnell-Bologna Icefield
15. Fort McMurray

Saskatchewan-Nelson River Basin

16. Helen Creek Research Basin
17. Marmot Creek Research Basin
18. Sibbald Research Wetland
19. Peyto Glacier Research Basin
20. Burstall Creek Research Basin
21. Kenaston / Brightwater Creek Mesonet Site
22. Saskatchewan River Delta
23. Fortress Mountain Research Basin
24. St. Denis National Wildlife Area
25. Fen - Boreal Ecosystem Research and Monitoring Sites (BERMS), White Gull Creek Basin
26. Old Jack Pine (OJP) - Boreal Ecosystem Research and Monitoring Sites (BERMS), White Gull Creek Basin
27. Old Black Spruce (OBS) - Boreal Ecosystem Research and Monitoring Sites (BERMS), White Gull Creek Basin
28. Clavet Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence
29. Borden Bridge
30. Buffalo Pound Lake

Columbia River Basin

31. Columbia Icefield

Great Lakes / St. Lawrence River Basin

32. Georgian Bay Biosphere
33. Turkey Point Sites
34. Gatineau River and Saint-Maurice River watersheds, QC
35. Turkey Lakes Watershed
36. Eastern Basin Lake Erie
37. Fanshawe Reservoir
38. Lake Ontario - Hamilton Harbor
39. Lake Ontario - Western Basin
40. Lake Ontario - Pointe Peter array
41. Lake Ontario - Rideau Canal - section-1
42. Lake Ontario - Rideau Canal - section-2
43. Lake Ontario - Rideau Canal - section-3
44. Lake Ontario - Eastern Basin
45. Lake Ontario - Salmon River
46. Lake Superior - Western Arm
47. Lake Superior - Nipigon Bay
48. Lake Superior - Black Bay
49. Lake Superior - Thunder Bay
50. Lake Huron - Cisco north channel project
51. Lake Huron - Algonquin Park
52. Lake Huron - Lake Whitefish / glider calibration for telemetry
53. Lake Erie - Detroit River acoustic array
54. Lake Erie - Pigeon Bay
55. Urban Ecohydrology 1: Ajax Sewersheds (East & West)
56. Urban Ecohydrology 2: Richmond Hill stormwater pond
57. Urban Ecohydrology 3: Lake Wilcox (Richmond Hill)
58. Urban Ecohydrology 4: Bioretention cell (Mississauga)
59. Urban Ecohydrology 5: Stormwater ponds (Kitchener)
60. CFB Borden Site
61. Hopewell Creek, southern ON
62. Wilket Creek, Toronto
63. Morningside Creek, Toronto
64. Ganatsekaigon Creek, Pickering
65. Blair Creek, Kitchener
66. Inverhaugh
67. West Montrose
68. Kiwanis Park
69. EIT
70. Fairway
71. Manheim
72. Glen Morris
73. Strawberry Creek
74. Alder Creek Smart Watershed
75. Elora Research Station (University of Guelph)
76. rare Charitable Research Reserve