Colin I. Mayfield

Mayfield, C. 2019. Higher Education in the Water Sector: A Global Overview. UNU-INWEH Report Series, Issue 07. United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, Hamilton, Canad…

This report critically examines, for the first time, the capacity of Canada’s water sector with respect to meeting and helping other countries meet the water-related targets of the UN’s global sustainable development agenda. Several components of this capacity are examined, including water education and research, investment in water projects that Canada makes internally and externally, and experiences in water technology and governance. Analysis of the water education system suggests that there is a broad capability in institutions of higher learning in Canada to offer training in the diverse subject areas important in water. In most cases, however, this has not led to the establishment of specific water study programmes. Only a few universities provide integrated water education. There is a need for a comprehensive listing of water-related educational activities in universities and colleges — a useful resource for potential students and employers. A review of recent Canadian water research directions and highlights reveals strong and diverse water research capacity and placed the country among global leaders in this field. Canada appears to be within the top 10 countries in terms of water research productivity (publications) and research impact (citations). Research capacity has been traditionally strong in the restoration and protection of the lakes, prediction of changes in climate, water and cryosphere (areas where water is in solid forms such as ice and snow), prediction and management of floods and droughts. There is also a range of other strong water research directions. Canada is not among the top 10 global water aid donors in absolute dollar numbers; the forerunners are, as a rule, the countries with higher GDP per capita. Canadian investments in Africa water development were consistently higher over the years than investments in other regions of the global South. The contributions dropped significantly in recent years overall, also with a decline in aid flow to Africa. Given government support for the right business model and access to resources, there is significant capacity within the Canadian water sector to deliver water technology projects with effective sustainable outcomes for the developing world. The report recommends several potential avenues to elevate Canada’s role on the global water stage, i.e. innovative, diverse and specific approaches such as developing a national inventory of available water professional capacity, and ranking Universities on the strength of their water programmes coordinating national contributions to global sustainability processes around the largest ever university-led water research programme in the world – the 7-year Global Water Futures program targeting specific developmental or regional challenges through overseas development aid to achieve quick wins that may require only modest investments resolving such chronic internal water challenges as water supply and sanitation of First Nations, and illustrating how this can be achieved within a limited period with good will strengthening and expanding links with UN-Water and other UN organisations involved in global water policy work To improve water management at home, and to promote water Canadian competence abroad, the diverse efforts of the country’s water sector need better coordination. There is a significant role for government at all levels, but especially federally, in this process.

The Sustainable Development Goal 6 targets are all dependent on capacity development as outlined in SDG 6a “Expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation related activities and programmes “. Massive Open On-line Courses (MOOCs) and distance learning in general have a significant role to play in this expansion. This report examines the role that MOOCs and similar courses could play in capacity development in the water sector. The appearance of MOOCs in 2010/11 led within 4 years to a huge increase in this type of course and in student enrollment. Some problems with student dropout rates, over-estimating the transformational and disruptive nature of MOOCs and uncertain business models remain, but less “massive” MOOCs with more engaged students are overcoming these problems. There are many existing distance learning courses and programmes in the water sector designed to train and/ or educate professionals, operators, graduate and undergraduate students and, to a lesser extent, members of communities dealing with water issues. There are few existing true MOOCs in the water sector. MOOCs could supply significant numbers of qualified practitioners for the water sector. A suite of programmes on water-related topics would allow anyone to try the courses and determine whether they were appropriate and useful. If they were, the students could officially enroll in the course or programme to gain a meaningful qualification or simply to upgrade their qualifications. To make MOOCs more relevant to education and training in the water sector an analysis of the requirements in the sector and the potential demand for such courses is required. Cooperation between institutions preparing MOOCs would be desirable given the substantial time and funding required to produce excellent quality courses. One attractive model for cooperation would be to produce modules on all aspects of water and sanitation dealing with technical, scientific, social, legal and management topics. These should be produced by recognized experts in each field and should be “stand-alone” or complete in themselves. If all modules were made freely available, users or mentors could assemble different MOOCs by linking relevant modules. Then extracts, simplified or less technical versions of the modules could then be used to produce presentations to encourage public participation and for other training purposes. Adaptive learning, where course materials are more tailored to individual students based on their test results and reactions to the material, can be an integral part of MOOCs. MOOCs efficiently provide access to quality courses at low or no cost to students around the world, they enable students to try courses at their convenience, they can be tailored to both professional and technical aspects, and they are very suitable to provide adaptive learning courses. Cooperation between institutions would provide many course modules for the water sector that collectively could provide excellent programmes to address the challenges of capacity development for SDG 6 and other issues within the water sector.

This paper investigates potential exposure to endotoxin in drinking water through the inhalation of aerosols generated by showers and humidifiers. Adverse health effects attributable to the inhalation of airborne endotoxin in various occupational settings are summarized, as are controlled laboratory inhalation studies. Data from investigations estimating aerosolization of particulate matter by showers and humidifiers provide a basis for similar analyses with endotoxin, which like minerals in water, is nonvolatile. A theoretical assessment of the inhalation of aerosolized endotoxin showed that while the likelihood of an acute response while showering is minimal, the same is not true for humidifiers. Ultrasonic and impeller (cool mist) humidifiers efficiently produce large numbers of respirable particles. It is predicted that airway inflammation can occur if humidifier reservoirs are filled with tap water, sometimes even at typical drinking-water distribution-system endotoxin concentrations. Higher endotoxin levels occasionally found in drinking water (>1,000 EU/ml) are very likely to induce symptoms such as chills and fever if used as humidifier feed water. While it is unlikely that treated drinking water would contain extremely high endotoxin levels occasionally observed in cyanobacterial blooms (>35,000 EU/ml), the potential for serious acute health consequences exist if used in humidifiers.

Studies of the sediments of Hamilton Harbour, Lake Ontario, Canada, have shown variable degrees of pollution with a large number of organic and inorganic pollutants. Three areas in the Harbour – Windemere Basin, Cootes Paradise and Randle Reef – exhibited particularly high levels of contaminants, with concomitant impacts on benthic organisms. Sediment samples examined in this study were taken from a site in Randle Reef in Hamilton Harbour and a station (LE 23) in Lake Erie used as a reference sample. The samples were subjected to chemical fractionation to remove organic contaminants, with one fraction being used as total extract, and another aliquot being subjected to silica gel fractionation to give four fractions. Each fraction was chemically analysed and an aliquot used for bioassays following exchange with dimethylsulfoxide. Standard biotests were performed with Daphnia magna, Hyalella azteca, Pimephales promelas (fathead minnows) and Selenastrum capricornutum. Results from direct sediment contact bioassays indicated that sediment from Randle Reef is highly toxic, whereas the Lake Erie sample had no observable impacts. Total extract when added at 1% to the bioassays replicated the solid phase with acute toxicity for Randle Reef, and no effect on Lake Erie. For the silica gel fractionation, Fraction 1 (F1) showed similar toxicity as the total extract, even at low additions, whereas F2–4 gave variable and inconclusive results. F1 eluted with hexane contained the non‐polar fractions, predominantly the polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and these compounds are the most likely causative agents for the highly acute toxicity observed in the sediment of Randle Reef.

Deionized water was spiked with various concentrations of endotoxin and exposed to UV irradiation from medium-pressure UV lamps to assess endotoxin inactivation. It was found that endotoxin inactivation was proportional to the UV dose under the conditions examined. The inactivation rate was determined to be ∼0.55 endotoxin unit/ml per mJ/cm ² of irradiation delivered.