By Cate Willis
Urging Canada to bolster its publicly funded monitoring of underground water systems, a University of Guelph researcher recently testified before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development about the critical need for advanced technologies to safeguard this vital resource.
Dr. Beth Parker, a professor in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences and director of the Morwick G360 Groundwater Research Institute, stressed to the committee the importance of groundwater and discussed its significance in addressing the global water crisis and ensuring freshwater sustainability.
“The pending global water crisis coincides with various challenges such as climate change, increasing demands for food and energy production, natural resource extraction and water and soil quality degradation,” she says. “Groundwater is central to these challenges and therefore is an important part of the solution.”
Parker also highlighted the shortage of experts in the field due to retirement, as well as the insufficient number of young Canadians entering the profession.
“Groundwater plays a leading role in addressing global water supply needs into the future, so it is imperative to train young professionals with expertise in this field, to not only address the growing water crisis, but ensure the protection and sustainability of our groundwater sources that sustain ecosystems and impact healthy communities,” she says.
As a contaminant hydrogeologist who focuses on how pollutants travel through different groundwater flow systems, Parker helps municipalities design and install monitoring networks to inform groundwater flow system behaviour to maintain access to clean water for water supplies. She also works with industrial partners to better understand groundwater contaminant behaviour at sites to inform remediation efforts.
She says groundwater constitutes 99 per cent of the Earth’s liquid freshwater and serves as an important link between atmosphere, soil and surface water. Groundwater feeds many surface water bodies and provides the majority of freshwater supplies throughout the seasons, offering resilience to the global water crisis.
“Groundwater is crucial for freshwater resilience during climate change, as it can moderate extreme conditions, such as providing a source of water during droughts,” she says. “It’s everywhere beneath our feet and can be locally available and is the most dependable source for drinking, sanitation and growing food.”
Despite its importance, groundwater is often undervalued, misunderstood and mismanaged, both in policy and public perception.
To address this, Parker says there is an urgent requirement for data monitoring both the quantity and quality of groundwater, utilizing cutting-edge technologies like real-time data and optimal management practices within specified limits, to ensure the preservation of this vital resource. Enhanced data collection from advanced technologies is crucial across all facets of the water cycle to comprehensively manage the system.
“As freshwater demands approach the limits of the natural system, it is crucial to change our habits and invest in improving water use and monitoring systems,” Parker says. “Since groundwater is invisible, it lags in monitoring compared to other elements of the water cycle such as surface water and stormwater, and improved surveillance is necessary to better understand and manage groundwater use within new and changing limits.”