Posted on Dec. 8: Lessons learned from Walkerton

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/dickson_sarah.jpg” caption=”Sarah Dickson”]Like most of us, civil engineering professor Sarah Dickson likes to quench her thirst with water. But unlike a growing number of Canadians, her first choice isn't bottled water – good old Ontario tap water is what she prefers.

Dickson's area of expertise is in water and environmental engineering and her research involves the input, transport and fate of organic contaminants in groundwater systems.

She's most comfortable choosing water from the tap  a fact that might surprise the legions of bottled water users whose numbers have increased since the events of Walkerton in 2000 and the subsequent inquiry into the contamination of the town's water supply.

“People might choose bottled water for taste, but the bottled water industry simply doesn't have the same regulations that are in place at the municipal level. Ontario's drinking water is safe but there are still some issues with the municipal infrastructure funding that's needed to keep wastewater treatment up to capacity,” she says.

Dickson will be speaking about the physical causes of Walkerton and examining the changes in Ontario's legislation in her Science in the City lecture, The future of Ontario's drinking water: lessons learned from Walkerton which will also explore the potential vulnerabilities that still exist in our drinking water systems.

Sarah Dickson's talk takes place tomorrow (Tuesday December 9) and is free and open to the public. The lecture will be held in the Hamilton Spectator Auditorium, 44 Frid Street in Hamilton. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the lecture begins at 7 p.m.

To reserve your seat e-mail sciencecity@mcmaster.ca or call 905-525-9140, ext. 24934.