For Gail Krantzberg, today is one of the best days of the year.

Designated World Water Day by the United Nations General Assembly, March 22 has
been reserved as a day for celebrating one of the planet's most precious resources
since 1993. For Krantzberg, it's also an opportunity to talk about the many issues
facing water bodies such as the Great Lakes.

“We as Canadians, and specifically those of us in the Great Lakes region, are very
accustomed to the myth of the abundance of water,” said the director of McMaster's
ArcelorMittal Dofasco Centre for Engineering and Public Policy. “But most of the world is
thinking about water because they just don't have it.”

One of North America's foremost experts on the Great Lakes, Krantzberg has held
several positions with Ontario's Ministry of the Environment, working as an
ecotoxicologist, sediment specialist and senior policy advisor. She joined the University
in 2005, where she now researches not only one of the world's most complex
ecosystems, but one of the most complex to govern.

“You've got people living around the Great Lakes in two countries and multiple states,
provinces and municipalities,” said Krantzberg. “It can be difficult to govern, but it must
be done in order to protect and regenerate the fresh water supply.”

Some of the most important issues facing the Great Lakes, according to Krantzberg, are the
results of the actions taken by people living around them.

“The chemicals we use on our lawns, the things we pour down our drains, the amount
we pave over green space – the cumulative effects can be incredibly harmful,” she said.
“When it comes to protecting our water supply, we need to stop thinking about
ourselves as individuals and start thinking as a group of millions of residents. The
impact that that many people can have can be very dramatic.”

Krantzberg also emphasizes our moral responsibility to steward the Great Lakes.

“The organisms that live in and around the lakes don't have a choice about what water
they live in and consume, but we can make better choices about our day-to-day
impact on the lakes.”

McMaster has trans-disciplinary research expertise in water and related issues, including faculty such as
Raja Ghosh and Jen-shih Chang (water treatment), Atif Kubursi (the politics of water), Brian McCarry and
John Drake (water quality), Sarah Dickson (groundwater contamination and remediation), Ioannis Tsanis
(water resources) and Patricia Chow-Fraser (human impact on water).