Bioresource Engineering Senior Seminar Series

Erica Follon

The management of water levels and flows of the Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River watershed have not changed in 50 years. The effects of the Moses-Saunders Dam, a mere 100 km upstream of Montreal, have plagued Ontario with significant environmental damage.  Many attempts and much effort has been consumed with restoring natural  water levels and flows to the watershed, yet no solutions have been implemented as they are often met with downstream resistance. Montreal Island is affected by any changes that are made; this is truly ‘In Our Backyard’. This presentation looks at the evolution of the river, its management, its stakeholders, and the effects of Integrated Water Resource Management on managerial decision making.

Reviewers: Jesse Ketler, Sarah Lebel, Kiran Ramaswamy

Fru Ngwa Felexce

Beginning with the movement of Homo erectus out of Africa about a million years ago, migration of human populations has and will continue to shape human history for a long time. This notwithstanding, recent trends in mass movements of people from the developing to the developed world poses potential problems for the sending as well as receiving regions. Over the last four decades, Sub-Saharan Africa has increasingly witnessed an exodus of its finest brains to the West, a situation which has prompted many scholars to ponder the potential consequences for the sub-regions. In this presentation, I analyse the current trends in international emigration of skilled professionals from countries south of the Sahara and the potential impacts on human, social and economic development of this sub- region.

Reviewers: Kael Eggie, Golmar Golmohammadi, Hijab Rizvi, Eyad Jamaladdine

Abdelhamid Echihabi

It is well known that water supply, sanitation and hygiene projects can improve health, but controversies persist about the relative importance of these factors. Is water quantity more important than water quality? Is sanitation more important than water supply? Is hygiene more important than hardware?  The purpose of this presentation is to answer these questions based on a systematic review of scientific studies in the past 30 years.

Reviewers: Kartheek Anekella, Mohammed Bakari, , Nicolas Rodriguez, Sebastien Bouffard

Eduardo Ganem Cuenca

The current method in providing drinking water in Canada is dominated by public sector management, however, it is increasingly criticized as being inefficient and lacking innovative capacity. To address this, governments are seeking alternative methods to modernize the management of drinking water services. Modernizing water management requires a massive injection of capital investment, among other resources, thus generating interest in private sector involvement. One alternative being considered is Public Private Partnerships (P3s). This seminar will provide an overview of the current state of public sector management and discuss P3s as one alternative to a water management reform.

Reviewers: Sammy Bajwa, Kael Eggie, Ahmed Nafea, Michael Brodeur