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About World Water Day (WWD)
World Water Day (WWD) arose from Agenda 21 of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The first International World Water Day, designated by the United Nations, was commemorated in 1993. Each year, UN-Water, an agency that coordinates the efforts of UN entities and international organizations working on water and sanitation issues, selects a theme to highlight a specific aspect of freshwater. World Water Day is celebrated on March 22.
Since 2010, the Laurier Institute for Water Science has hosted WWD events centered on regional and northern water issues, showcasing the breadth and depth of water research in Waterloo and the Northwest Territories. Our WWD events act as a meeting place for water researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders to share knowledge, spark collaboration, and plan future projects.
Our Laurier WWD conference is held on or near the official UN date and serves as our keystone event. This conference has historically featured student poster sessions and research talks, panel discussions, hands-on workshops, guest speakers, and our annual general meeting.
2026 WWD Conference
This year's conference featured student poster sessions and research talks, panel discussions, guest speakers, networking opportunities, our annual general meeting, and a keynote address by Professor Andrew Tanentzap of Trent University.
- Date: Thursday, March 26, 2026
- Location: Senate and Board Chambers, Paul Martin Centre, Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5
Conference Program
9:45 a.m.
Registration Desk Opens
Coffee and light snack served.
10 a.m. – Noon
Student Research Talks
To be announced.
Noon – 1 p.m.
Lunch | Annual General Meeting
Laurier Institute for Water Science.
1 p.m. – 2 p.m.
Student Research Talks
To be announced.
2 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Careers in Water Science Panel
Featuring professionals from Stantec, Burnside, and more!
2:45 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Wellness Break
Coffee and light snack served.
3 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
2026 WWD UN Theme: Water and Gender
Panel discussion.
5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Mixer | Poster Session
Food and drink served.
7 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Keynote Address
Professor Andrew Tanentzap, Trent University.
8 p.m. – 8:15 p.m.
Closing Remarks | Awards
Laurier Institute for Water Science.
Past WWD Events
Since 2010, the Laurier Institute for Water Science has hosted WWD events centered on regional and northern water issues, showcasing the breadth and depth of water research in Waterloo and the Northwest Territories. Our WWD events act as a meeting place for water researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders to share knowledge, spark collaboration, and plan future projects.
The Laurier Water Science Students Association planned an in-person World Water Day event on Tuesday, March 22. Panelist speakers talked about various topics pertaining to water. Drinks and snacks were provided. The event was held in the Senate and Board Chambers between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
The Water Science Students Association (WSSA) in partnership with the Laurier Institute for Water Science (LIWS) hosted a virtual speaker series event on Monday, March 22 to celebrate World Water Day. The event was hosted virtually via Zoom and a variety of professionals, students, researchers, and community members from different backgrounds connected and discussed their work as it relates to the conservation and protection of water resources.
Highlights included: Erin Ussery and Mark McMaster from Environment and Climate Change Canada, Kerry Royer and Megan Lalli from the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, Assistant Professor Miguel Sioui from Wilfrid Laurier University, and Meghan Clout from Wellington Water Watchers.
The LIWS, GWF and NWF explored the theme "Leaving no one behind" and included student researchers and invited speakers who are making a splash in the water sector. It took place March 21 and 22, 2019 at Wilfrid Laurier University's Waterloo campus.
Schedule
21 March
- 6 p.m. – 7 p.m.: Reception
- 7 p.m. – 8 p.m.: Talk and discussion: David Livingston, "It's all about Water." Water stewardship in the NWT.
- 8 p.m.: Informal get together at Morty's Pub.
- 9 a.m. – 10 a.m.: Registration and Coffee
- 10 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.: Welcome and opening ceremony
- 10:30 a.m. – 11.45 a.m.: Panel discussion on the Region and Water. Robert Case University of Waterloo (Wellington Water Watchers) and Eric Hodgins Manager Hydrogeology and Source Water, Region of Waterloo, Water Services
- 11:45 a.m. – 1 p.m.: Lunch and Poster Session.
- 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.: Panel discussion on First Nations and Water. Makasa Looking Horse (Mohawk and Lakota. McMaster Indigenous Studies program) and Mary Anne Caibaiosai (Anishnaabe elder)
- 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.: Closing and get together over water at Veritas.
The LIWS, Water Institute (UW) and SWIGS explored the theme "Nature for Water," and included student researchers and invited speakers who are making a splash in the water sector. It took place March 22, 2018 at the University of Waterloo.
In 2017, the UN-Water World Water Day campaign theme was ‘Wastewater’. The 8th annual UWaterloo-Laurier Graduate Research Fair and Water Celebration was held in Laurier’s Lazaridis Hall, where participants learned about university water research and gained awareness of local and global water issues. Activities included opening and launch of AquaHacking.
Keynote Speaker
Frank Wolf, Award winning Filmmaker, Adventurer, Writer and Environmentalist.
Title of Talk: Wild Waters: Advocating for wilderness waterways through adventure.
Frank has canoed across Canada, whitewater kayaked in Cambodia and Laos, cycled on the frozen Yukon River, sea kayaked in BC's Haida Gwaii, and hiked, pack rafted and sea kayaked the length of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline and super tanker route from Alberta's tar sands to the Pacific Ocean. Frank has experienced the life of water like no other. Frank will be speaking about his journey around the world, experiencing firsthand the threats to our valuable natural resource water.
Panel Discussion
Achievements, challenges and opportunities in Canada's wastewater system.
Panelists:
- Wayne Parker, P.Eng., Director, Centre for Control of Emerging Contaminants,
University of Waterloo - Steve Green, Water Program Coordinator, Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change
- Nancy Kodousek, P.Eng. Director, Water Services, Region of Waterloo
- Vince Pileggi, P.Eng., Senior Engineer, Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change
Moderators:
- Maricor Arlos (UWaterloo)
- Aaron Coristine (Laurier)
In 2016, the World Water Day theme was ‘water and jobs’. The 7th Annual Graduate Research Fair and Water Celebration co-hosted by the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University marks UN World Water Day, March 22.
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Linda Gowman, Chief Technology Officer, Trojan Technologies
Title of Talk: Water Challenges: Calling on all Talent
Linda Gowman, Ph.D., P.Eng., is Chief Technology Officer at Trojan Technologies in London, Ontario. Gowman has been with Trojan in various senior roles leading research and engineering, including VP Science and Technology and VP Research. Her teams have been engaged in developing product innovations that have won numerous international awards in the water and wastewater treatment sectors. She enjoys the challenges and opportunities of bringing internal and external cross-functional teams together to provide innovative solutions to issues related to water, and believes that bringing people together with diversity in experience and approaches leads to the best outcomes. Gowman participates in various water-related organizations, and has participated on the boards of several.
Panel Discussion
Water and Jobs
Panelists:
- Bev Mollard, Ontario Clean Water Agency
- Robert Pockar, Matrix Solutions
- Krystyn Tully, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper
Moderator:
- Simon Courtenay, Canadian Water Network and University of Waterloo
In 2015, the UN-Water - World Water Day campaign theme was ‘Water and Sustainable Development’.
Keynote Speakers
Chris Turner
Title of Talk: The Next Leap in Sustainability: Getting from Less Bad to Much Better for the World's Water Supply.
Chris is one of Canada's leading writers and speakers on sustainability and the global green economy and author of five books. He is one of Canada's leading writers and speakers on sustainability and the global green economy and the author of five books. His most recent book is How to Breathe Underwater: Field Reports from an Age of Radical Change, a collection of his award-winning essays and feature writing. His 2013 book The War on Science was a co-winner of the Writers' Union of Canada's Freedom to Read Award. He was a Berton House writer-in-residence in Dawson City, Yukon, in 2013. He lives in Calgary with his wife and two children, where he is working on a book about the oil sands.
Robert Sandford, EPCOR Chair of the Canadian Partnership Initiative in support of the United Nations "Water for Life Decade". This initiative aims to inform the public on water issues and translate scientific research outcomes into language decision-makers can use to craft timely and meaningful public policy.
Title of Talk: The Future We Want: Water and Climate Security in a Warming World.
Bob Sandford also remains the Chair of the Canadian Partnership Initiative in support of United Nations “Water for Life” Decade, a national partnership initiative that aims to inform the public on water issues and translate scientific research outcomes into language decision-makers can use to craft timely and meaningful public policy. Bob is also a Fellow of the Centre for at the University of Saskatchewan and a Fellow of the Biogeoscience Institute at the University of Calgary. He sits on the Advisory Board of Living Lakes Canada and is also a member of the Forum for Leadership on Water (FLOW), a national water policy research group centred in Toronto. Bob is also senior advisor on water issues for the Interaction Council, a global public policy forum composed of more than thirty former Heads of State including Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, U.S. President Bill Clinton and the former Prime Minister of Norway, Gro Brundtland. In 2013, Alberta Ventures magazine recognized Bob as one of the year’s 50 most influential Albertans. In addition to many other books, Bob is also the author of a number of high-profile works on water including Cold Matters: The State & Fate of Canada’s Snow and Ice and Saving Lake Winnipeg. Bob is also the co-author with Kerry Freek of Flood Forecast: Climate Risk & Resilience in Canada, all published by Rocky Mountain Books. His latest book, The Columbia River Treaty: a Primer was published in association with Simon Fraser University’s Adaptation to Climate Change Team in the fall of 2014.
Activities
Screening of the award winning film Watermark. Shot in stunning 5K ultra high-definition video, Watermark shows water as a terraforming element and the scale of its reach, as well as the magnitude of our need and use. In Watermark, the viewer is immersed in a world defined by a magnificent force of nature that we all too often take for granted, until it is gone.
In 2014, the UN-Water - World Water Day campaign theme was ‘water and energy’.
Keynote Speakers
Cecelia Brooks, Water Grandmother at Canadian Rivers Institute
Cecelia Brooks is the Water Grandmother with the Canadian Rivers Institute at the University of New Brunswick and Science Advisor to the Assembly of First Nations Chiefs of New Brunswick. As Water Grandmother, she works in the First Nations communities to provide technical support in water related issues impacting First Nations people. As the science advisor to the chiefs, she provides technical support to the chiefs of New Brunswick on all issues that impact the environment.
Monique Dubé, Project Coordinator, Environmental Performance Improvement, Shell Heavy Oil; Science Director, Canadian Rivers Institute
Title of Talk: Water and Energy in the Canadian Oil Sands: a Paradigm Shift for Environmental Performance Improvement
Monique Dubé was a Canada Research Chair in Aquatic Ecosystem Health Diagnosis at the University of Saskatchewan, and has operated in the consulting and regulatory sectors with over 20 years of professional experience. Her area of interest is in integrated water resource management and watershed-scale cumulative effects assessment. However, she also holds experience in environmental impact assessment, air quality assessment and wetland reclamation and treatment. She has published over 180 contributions, is the recipient of an NSERC Synergy Award, and in 2011 was awarded Canadian Geographic Scientist of the Year and a YWCA Women of Distinction. Her work has influenced federal legislation, national environmental impact assessment practices, cumulative effects assessments for Canadian freshwaters, and contributed to patented technology for wastewater treatment. She has served on Scientific Advisory Panels for UNEP (Development of Global Biodiversity Indicators, World Conservation Monitoring Centre; Global Environment Monitoring Program), UNESCO (Chair, Education and Capacity-Building Task Force on Ecohydrology, International Hydrological Programme), and Canada/US Partnerships (Long-term Receiving Water Study, United States National Council for Air and Stream Improvement). She has participated in peer reviews of the Alberta oil sands Regional Aquatic Monitoring Program (RAMP) and was a member of the development team for the recent federal/provincial regional monitoring program in the oil sands. Her THREATS software (The Healthy River Ecosystem AssessmenT System) and watershed health assessment approach has received international attention for its contribution to assessing and managing Canadian watersheds towards sustainability.
In 2013, the UN-Water - World Water Day campaign theme was International Year of Water Cooperation.
Activities
- Discussion and Viewing of the award-winning documentary People of a Feather with Joel Heath, President and Co-Founder of the Arctic Eider Society.
Keynote Speakers
Gail Krantzberg, McMaster University
Title of Talk: Great Lakes, Great Responsibilities.
Gail Krantzberg is Professor and Director of the Centre for Engineering and Public Policy in the School of Engineering at McMaster University offering Canada’s first Master’s Degree in Engineering and Public Policy. Gail completed her M.Sc. and Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in environmental science and freshwaters. She worked for the Ontario Ministry of Environment from 1988 to 2001, as Coordinator of Remedial Action Plan and Great Lakes Programs, and Senior Policy Advisor on Great Lakes. In her tenure there she was intensely engaged in binational Great Lakes science and policy venues, including direct interactions with the Great Lakes Commission, Board membership on the Great Lakes Observing system, president of the International Association of Great Lakes Research, The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, Board Member of the Canadian Water Foundation, member of the International Joint Commission’s Water Quality Board, Sediment Priority Action Commitee, Indicators Implementation Task Force, and Council of Great Lakes Research Managers. In 2007 she was appointed as an adjunct faculty member of the United Nations University Institute for Water and Environmental Health and participated in the twinning of the Laurentian and African Great Lakes (principally Lake Victoria). She has authored four books and more than 130 scientific and policy articles on issues pertaining to ecosystem quality and sustainability and is a frequent speaker to media and the public.
Bruce Pardy, Queen's University
Title of Talk: Drowning in Confusion: The Debate over Water Rights
Bruce Pardy is a professor of environmental law at Queen’s University. He has written extensively on environmental governance, ecosystem management, climate change, water policy and environmental liability, and has taught environmental law at law schools in Canada, the United States and New Zealand. Professor Pardy practiced litigation at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in Toronto, and sits on the Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal as an adjudicator and mediator.
Poster Awards
Congratulations to the students listed below as they were awarded the top poster prizes for each category.
- Hydrological and Atmospheric Sciences (Sponsored by AquaResource Inc.): Kim Van Meter - University of Waterloo (Monsoon Harvests: Assessing the Impact of Distributed Storage Tanks on the Vulnerability of Subsistence-Level Agriculture, Tamil Nadu, India)
- Water Treatment and Technology: Carolyn Chan - University of Guelph (Constructed Wetland for Domestic Greywater Use)
- Water Policy, Governance and Management (Sponsored by Stantec Consulting Inc.): Marie-Clare Brisbois - University of Waterloo (Collaborative Water Governance, Natural Resource Industries and Influence: Assessing the Value of Collaboration When Significant Power Imbalances Exist)
- Aquatic Ecology & Toxicology: Phillip Pham-Ho - Wilfrid Laurier University (Mechanisms of Brain Swelling in Rainbow Trout and Ammonia Tolerant Goldfish)
- Cold Regions Research: Jacqueline Ho - University of Waterloo (The Lag Effects of Wildfire on Sediment-Associated Metal Toxicity and Bioaccumulation in the Crowsnest River, Alberta)