Current Research Projects

Canada Excellence Research Chair in Waterborne Pathogens: Surveillance, Prediction and Mitigation. Access to safe water and sanitation is a global concern. Contaminated water and poor sanitation transmit disease and expose individuals to preventable health risks. The challenge of managing waterborne risks will only intensify as water supply and quality are impacted by population growth, human-driven development and climate change. As the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Waterborne Pathogens, Dr. David McCarthy and his team at the University of Guelph will spearhead the development of much-needed solutions to safeguard water supply in Canada and around the world, developing innovative technologies to detect pathogens and their sources in near real-time, model how humans interact with sources of contamination, and reduce pathogen loads in the environment. Their work will emphasize solutions that are easy to use, low-cost, open source and open hardware, to encourage and enable their use in diverse communities across the globe. Want to learn more about this CERC? Visit this page: https://www.microscape.ca/home/CERC 

Understanding and mitigating sources of faecal contamination in recreational waters. This collaborative program, supported by funding from the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, aims to better understand the health risks to users of Lake Simcoe beaches and the sources of fecal contamination that contribute to those risks, helping to guide mitigation and management decisions that reduce beach closures. Through this work, we aim to improve current risk assessment methods, and more specifically understand the risk coming from Campylobacter spp., bacteria commonly found in the fecal material of Canada Geese and a leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis globally.

Innovative monitoring, stormwater management and harvesting for water resilient farmers and improved ecosystems. This project aims to review, monitor and implement best management practices for stormwater collection and management on farms, with a focus on both passive and activated Green Infrastructure (GI) solutions. By integrating GI approaches such as swales, bioretention systems and constructed wetlands, the project seeks to use real time monitoring and control to enhance water quality, reduce runoff, and promote stormwater harvesting to both create resilience in water supply for our farmers and protect our precious ecosystems. This project is supported by a grant from the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance.

Internet of Things (IoT)-based urban stormwater monitoring for environmental surveillance in cold climates. Ongoing projects with the City of Guelph and City of Cambridge use our low-cost 3D-printed water quality sensors for real-time data collection and analysis. These IoT sensor networks are currently installed in local stormwater systems (sewars and drains), as well as receiving waterways (rivers and streams) to better understand the impacts of urban development on stormwater flows and quality, while also serving as a pilot projects to prepare for new regulatory requirements under the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) Consolidated Linear Infrastructure Environmental Compliance Approval (CLI ECA) process. 

City of Guelph Sensors: https://draindetectives.org/IoT/CoG/

City of Cambridge Sensors: https://draindetectives.org/IoT/CoC/ 

Invasive species monitoring using the Torpedo Passive Sampler. This work is in support of the Tiger Mosquito Citizen Science (TIMO-CS) study, collaborative citizen science mosquito study focussing on the Windsor-Essex region of southern Ontario, where in the invasive species Aedes albopictus has emerged since 2016. This eDNA-based biosurveillance work is being completed in collaboration with Public Health Agency of Canada and aims to discover new applications for the novel 3D-printed passive sampler that was developed for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater.

Ongoing International Collaborations 

Real time monitoring and control of urban stormwater treatment systems. This ARC Linkage Project explores the use of real time monitoring systems, such as sensors and cloud-based logging systems, to understand pollutant dynamics in water treatment systems and then apply numerical models to then create control algorithms which adjust the water dynamics to improve overall water quality treatment processes.

The IoT for Water HUB. The Hub expects to transform Australian capabilities by delivering cutting-edge technologies, and novel visualisation and analytics methods, supported by new business models. The objectives of the ARC Research Hub in the Internet of Things for Water include: developing new sensor technologies; developing advanced visualization and data analytics; and developing algorithms for real-time control of water systems, including water supply, wastewater and stormwater.

Sensor development for urban water quality monitoring. This project focuses on the development and use of low-cost sensors for detecting illegal discharges and monitoring water quality in urban waterways across the globe. It includes the deployment of a "sensor army" in the Stony Creek catchment in Melbourne, Australia, to reduce industrial contamination. A similar monitoring network is being used to detect illicit discharge in Orange Country, California, USA, as part of a collaboration with The Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP).

Completed Research Projects

Wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2. This project involves the development and deployment of a novel 3D-printed passive sampler for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. The technology has been widely adopted, with over 40,000 deployments globally, contributing significantly to public health efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.