UPEI to Host Public Forum: Ryerson and UPEI experts to address water quality issues
This Wednesday, June 27, the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) will host a public forum on Water Quality. Starting at 7 pm in the W. A. Murphy Student Centre, the forum will bring together environmental and water quality experts from Ryerson University, UPEI, and the Island community. It will include presentations and discussions from Michael van den Heuvel, UPEI Canada Research Chair in Watershed Ecological Integrity and Ron Pushchak, a member of the Technical Experts Committee on Source Water Protection, Ontario Ministry of the Environment.
The forum is part of a bigger three-day symposium where researchers and students from Ryerson and UPEI are getting together to share different approaches to safeguarding water quality as well as managing and finding solutions to contaminated groundwater.
"I am convinced that water quality issues are the largest single environmental issue facing Islanders and Canadians. Degradation of water quality threatens our health, our economic livelihood and ensures our children will inherit a compromised natural environment," says Michael van den Heuvel. "Reversing the problems will require unrelenting effort on the part of environmental managers, scientists, and the community at large. And this Summer Symposium between UPEI and Ryerson is a start. It focuses on the exchange of knowledge and experience with regards to the deterioration of our water resources."
The Water Quality forum will feature keynote addresses, a panel discussion, and a student poster session, showcasing research by Ryerson and UPEI students.
Keynote Addresses:
Todd Dupuis, Director Regional Programs, Atlantic Salmon Federation who will present a Historical perspective on land and water interactions in PEI
Ron Pushchak, a professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Ryerson will discuss Ontario nutrient management and water quality
Garry Schneider, the Manager at the Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project will talk about A holistic perspective on environmental issues
Following these speakers there will be a panel discussion moderated by Irene Novaczek, Director of UPEI's Institute of Island Studies. The panel includes Michael van den Heuvel, Daryl Guignon, a UPEI Biology professor who researches wildlife and their ecosystems on PEI, Rob Sharkie, Executive Director for the Trout River Environmental Committee and Gideon Wolfaardt, Ryerson's Canada Research Chair in Environmental Interfaces and Biofilms.
