Toronto Area Water Quality Data Workshop: Exploring Great Lakes DataStream Data Related to Water Policy

To Register:

Please email Sima Saadi at sima.saadi@torontomu.ca.

Please register by Friday May 3rd so we can confirm our food and refreshments order.

Water quality issues are an enduring concern in Canada and the Great Lakes region. Different government and non-government organizations have been engaged in water quality monitoring for many years. Many of these organizations are making their data open and publicly available. This research project explores the insights and usability of water quality data that is publicly available in the Great Lakes DataStream through a focus on water quality data in the Toronto region. Since 2018 the Gordon Foundation has made significant investments to make water quality data open and accessible across Canada https://gordonfoundation.ca/initiatives/datastream/ (external link) .

In 2021 the Gordon Foundation launched its Great Lakes DataStream ~ an open access platform for sharing information on freshwater health. Our project focuses on exploring and investigating data published in the Great Lakes DataStream which brings together water quality datasets collected by a number of monitoring groups throughout the Great Lakes basin https://greatlakesdatastream.ca/en (external link) .

To date there have been several different uses and applications using DataStream datasets across the country: https://datastream.org/en-ca/case-studies (external link) .

This workshop presents some preliminary findings from the exploration of GL DataStream data in the Toronto region. Thanks to a generous donation by Dr. Erika Bruce through the Geoffrey F. Bruce Fellowships in Canadian Freshwater Policy; funding for the inaugural Bruce Postdoctoral Fellow in Environment and Water Policy; and funding from RBC Tech for Nature, Dr. Carolyn Johns and Dr. Sima Saadi at Toronto Metropolitan University are leading a project focused on exploring and enhancing the usability of the data in the Great Lakes DataStream by focusing on several test cases at regional and local scales in Ontario.

This workshop presents an opportunity for those interested in water quality issues, data, policy and action to discuss the current and potential uses of the Great Lakes DataStream in the Toronto region and Great Lakes Area of Concern.