Elizabeth Cannon is president and vice-chancellor of the University of Calgary. Naheed Nenshi is mayor of Calgary.
As the world urbanizes, the challenges that face our cities – and, by extension, the whole of humanity – are very real. Our economic, social and environmental resilience is tested daily, and it's only through smart partnerships that we will become stronger and more successful.
Calgary and the University of Calgary work together in many ways to build a resilient city. Fundamental research is a critical foundation for our success as a university and city. When we create new knowledge by using the basic principles of science, it has an immediate positive impact not only on students but also on members of the community.
It's through our research partnerships that we've had the most success addressing the issues that major cities face daily, providing the insights and advancements that help us to solve real-world problems.
Municipal waste water is one such issue and one of the largest sources of water pollution in Canada. It's a global challenge and just one of the many complex problems faced by large, modern cities such as Calgary, along with transportation, urban sprawl, community safety, affordable housing, homelessness and economic attractiveness.
We formed the Urban Alliance a decade ago to tackle wide-reaching municipal problems such as these, co-ordinating the seamless transfer of cutting-edge research between the University of Calgary and the City of Calgary for the benefit of all our communities. More than 250 university researchers have joined forces with city front-line workers, effectively combining research and hands-on capabilities to yield ground-breaking innovations.
Advancing Canadian Wastewater Assets (ACWA) is an Urban Alliance initiative that aligns the disciplines of science and engineering with waste-water operators and industry. ACWA is the only fully integrated, fully contained university research facility located within an operating industrial waste-water treatment plant in the world. Researchers work side-by-side with municipal operators to improve waste-water treatment technologies. The $38.6-million project, funded by the Government of Canada through the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the province of Alberta and the City of Calgary through contributions of funds and land, puts ACWA in the position to help drive new fundamental research. Industry partnerships are also critical elements that help ensure the sustainability of ACWA operations.
In 2014, Alberta pharmacies collected more than 71 tonnes of expired and unused medications for disposal. That's the equivalent of 36 minivans worth of pharmaceuticals that were diverted from our rivers, streams and landfills – in just one year.
Knowing that many more tonnes of "dead drugs" are flushed down the toilet or thrown into the garbage each year, researchers at the University of Calgary are looking at how to keep these harmful substances out of the water supply. Unsafe disposal of prescription drugs that end up in our waterways and landfills pose risk to our environment.
City of Calgary laboratory scientists and University of Calgary researchers are currently working together to develop new methods. Through strategic partnerships with the Urban Alliance, Water Research Foundation, Water Environment Research Foundation, Canadian Water Network and ACWA, the city will address issues that may affect our citizens, customers and operations to ensure safe and sustainable water quality and quantity for our citizens.
At a time when the federal government is turning on the taps to billions of dollars in infrastructure funding, collaboration between cities, industry and research-intensive universities is more important than ever to help solve these and other urban problems. In some Canadian cities, crumbling waste-water infrastructure has prompted dumps of raw sewage into rivers and oceans.
Although Canada is awash in fresh water compared with the rest of the world, emerging pollutants and the potential for waste water to spread disease are concerns with no boundaries. More than 80 per cent of waste water worldwide is not collected or treated and the main cause of the pollution is urban settlements.
While ACWA research has a wide scope, specific targets include the role waste water plays in disease outbreaks, the survival and adaptation of bacterial strains that can pose risks to public health and the use of biotechnologies to degrade or neutralize contaminants. If some bacterial strains aren't treated properly, they can find themselves recirculated into the system and pose serious health threats.
There have been more than 100 research initiatives and projects launched through the Urban Alliance. Projects continue to span a wide range of research, touching on urban design and its effects on human health, traffic, public transit, social services for immigrants and energy efficiency, among other concerns shared by large cities around the world.
We have learned that as a university and a city, we are stronger working together – and we believe our shared experiences can inspire other cities and universities to do the same. As we work together – and lead organizations that work together – we continue to help prepare our communities for the world of today and tomorrow.