IMPC
Integrated Modelling for Prediction and Management of Change in Canada’s Major River Basins (IMPC) aims to develop integrated modelling capability for predication and management of water resources within Canada’s seven major river basins. Unprecedented climate and environmental changes pose major challenges to the management of water at local, regional, and national scales in Canada and internationally. Our research transcends artificial boundaries and links important features of climate, hydrology, ecosystems, water quality and management, at scales appropriate for decision-making.
IMPC research brings together experts in atmospheric science, hydrology and ecology with those in social science, computer science, economics and water resources engineering to build on and extend core modelling activities of the Global Water Futures program. Our transdisciplinary team spans six universities, twelve government agencies and ten end-user communities.
The program is grounded in a new paradigm for integration, knowledge mobilization, and user engagement. It brings together heterogeneous groups of knowledge producers and knowledge users to enable prediction of new extreme events such as floods and droughts, and to address outstanding local- to national-scale water management challenges in an age of uncertainty and non-stationarity.
Together, our team is developing and integrating advanced modelling tools to represent interactions across climatic, hydrological, ecological, economic and management systems. With this integrated modelling platform, we are working in close collaboration with end-user communities to identify criteria for decision analysis and develop advanced visualization tools for improved communcation and decision support. Ultimately, the goal is to develop a pan-Canadian integrated modelling platform to diagnose, simulate, and predict interactions amongst natural and human-driven water-resource components of the changing Earth and environmental systems, and to deliver optimal decision-making tools and solutions for uncertain future water resources, considering the range of stakeholder needs in Canada's major river basins.
GWF
Global Water Futures: Solutions to Water Threats in an Era of Global Change is a University of Saskatchewan-led research program that is funded in part by a $77.8-million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. The overarching goal of the program 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. Global Water Futures (GWF) aims to position Canada as a global leader in water science for cold regions and will address the strategic needs of the Canadian economy in adapting to change and managing risks of uncertain water futures and extreme events. End-user needs will be our beacon and will drive strategy and shape our science.
GWF is led by the Global Institute for Water Security at the University of Saskatchewan in partnership with University of Waterloo, McMaster University and Wilfrid Laurier University.
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.