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Quality check

Provincial dollars could help ensure municipalities and First Nation communities are held more accountable for the quality of their waterways, says the chair of Lakehead University’s biology department.
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Dr. Peter Lee gives a speech at Lakehead University after receiving more than $170,000 for a research project from the provincial government on Wednesday. (Jeff Labine, tbnewswatch.com)
Provincial dollars could help ensure municipalities and First Nation communities are held more accountable for the quality of their waterways, says the chair of Lakehead University’s biology department.

The province gave more than $170,000 in funding for a Lakehead University research project Wednesday. The project will focus on developing new technologies and methods to protect the quality of Ontario’s waterways.

Dr. Peter Lee, biology department chairman, said the funding will help the university improve its facilities and allow the department to do more research in toxicology and monitoring water quality. He said they have been operating their facility for years but the new funding would provide an even greater boost in their research.

"We have to upgrade our facility and it is critical that we have some of these instrumentations so that we can go ahead with our research," Lee said. "It’s critical that we can do these tests and conduct further research,"

Lee said the university would start developing tests that would help monitor the quality of Ontario’s waterways after an upgrade to its facility. One of these methods would look at toxicants on a fish in a way that would provide faster results.

"Municipalities will now be (scrutinized) with the same kind of treatment that the pulp and paper mills have had," he said. "If there is any changes at all to the aquatic environment downstream versus upstream from say a municipal treatment plant, then they will have to correct those changes. Essentially the water going out has to be as good as the water going in."

The project will also focus on the monitoring of waterways in and around First Nation communities. Lee said one of the first steps for that is to begin negotiations with First Nations to ensure they can meet certain standards.

"It means First Nation communities have to pass tests, some of which we at Lakehead University do, and they have to pass them on a regular basis," Lee said. "If they don’t pass they will have to clean up their systems so they will pass."

Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry Michael Gravelle said the project is another example of the excellent research done at LU. The Minister added that the funding will help create jobs for the area’s knowledge-based economy.

"The knowledge economy is very much an important part of future employment opportunities," Gravelle said.

"There was a time when most people believed major research needed to be done at the major centres such as in Toronto or one of the major universities. Lakehead has proven that major research can be done here at the university."







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