BARC & SPECIAL GUESTS
BARC Blog
Something Fishy About Wastewater
BY Sherry Du
ON April 27, 2016
150 billion litres of untreated and undertreated wastewater enter Canadian waters each year. Even in treated wastewater, some contaminants are able to slip through the treatment process, ultimately being released into the environment. These include pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Once released into our water systems, these contaminants -- chemicals that are designed to alter our behaviour and physiology -- can impact the biology of aquatic wildlife.
My research at McMaster University explores the ways in which fish cope with living in environments subjected to treated wastewater. Our research group, led by Dr. Graham Scott (Department of Biology) and Dr. Sigal Balshine (Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour), integrates physiological and behavioural approaches to better understand the biology of fish living in today's changing world.
Over the summer of 2015, we visited Cootes Paradise several times each week to investigate its fish. During this time, we often interacted with the public to explain why we were dressed in rubber suits and what we were doing in the water! Quite unexpectedly, science outreach and communication have become interactive and very exciting components of our research project. Since then, we have wanted to become more deeply involved in public engagement. As part of this initiative, we began filming our work using a GoPro camera and compiled a short informational video that was submitted to the iClimate Video Competition at McMaster University. We were very pleased that our video was well received and won 3rd place in the competition!
Riding this wave, we streamlined the video and submitted it to the prestigious Canada-wide NSERC Science, Action! video competition. We were extremely happy that this video won 2nd place!
Conducting research in Hamilton, especially Cootes Paradise, is not only exciting, but also invaluable to Hamilton's future. Sharing our research goals and findings to the research community is important, but ensuring that the community that we're working in is also aware and supportive is essential for the sustainability and acceptance of the research project and its scope. Sharing this work with the greater public -- whether that is through community workshops, research videos, photos, or blog posts -- is a vital aspect of education and raising awareness for environmental issues and concerns.
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Pharmaceuticals in our Harbour
Learn more about the effects of pharmaceuticals in our Harbour; courtesy of McMaster University Institute of Environment and Health.
