THUNDER BAY - With the province of Ontario home to the largest fresh water lakes in the world, researchers are continuing an ongoing conversation about water security and sustainability, with the hope the Ontario government will continue to support key research projects.
As part of Lakehead University’s Research and Innovation Week, a workshop was held on Monday on water and sustainability.
Ontario Minister of Research, Innovation and Science Reza Moridi, was in Thunder Bay to help open the workshop.
According to Moridi, there are more than 900 public and private companies working on water technology in Ontario and the government has made the water sector an area of focus for research and innovation.
“Our economy is based on research and innovation, on knowledge,” he said. “In order to advance our economy, we need to invest and we need to protect focus on innovation, because investments in innovation and research are investments in economies of the future and the future begins today.”
However, that task may become even more challenging given proposed cuts by the United States government to research projects on the Great Lakes and environmental protection.
Michael Rennie, an assistant professor in the Lakehead University department of biology and a fellow with the experimental lakes program, said cuts to American environmental programming related to the Great Lakes would create a massive gap in research.
“I don’t know if even the Canadian federal government has the resources to fill in the hole that would be left with that,” he said. “It would be scary.”
Rennie added that it would place more pressure on the Ontario government and researchers studying water quality and sustainability north of the border.
“Ontario bears a unique level of responsibility, particularly when it comes to the Great Lakes, because on the state side, that is shared by multiple state jurisdictions, but it’s one province essentially,” he said.
“Collaboration is very key in research and innovation, not only in water technology, but every technology,” Moridi added. “We encourage our researchers to collaborate with each other in their institutions, as well as other institutions in Canada and even further, to collaborate with researchers in other countries as well.”
Moridi encouraged those attending the workshop to continue working on research related to water technology.
“It is very important for us as Ontarians and Canadians, but it is also important for the seven billion people living on this planet,” he said. “Water is the white gold, as they call it today. It is very important for every individual living on this planet.”
The experimental lakes program has seen its fair share of funding shortfalls, nearly leading to its shut down in 2012. It has since secured multiple sources of funding, including the provincial government, Rennie said they really stepped up to the plate.
“You can always do more, but I think the better question is are you doing the best you can with the resources you have,” he said. “I certainly think they are doing the best when it comes to that.”
While Moridi said he believes everyone in the world deserves access to fresh, clean, drinking water, when it comes to First Nations communities in Northern Ontario still under boil-water advisories, he said the government will continue to work toward solutions.
“Every Ontarian should have access to clean drinking water, including our First Nations and indigenous Canadians, and our government will continue working with these communities to make sure they have access to clean water,” he said.
