Jana Levison, PhD, P.Eng.

Jana Levison
Associate Professor
Email: 
jlevison@uoguelph.ca
Phone number: 
519-824-4120 ext: 58327
Office: 
Room 3505
Website link: 
Personal Website

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Water Resources Engineering

Biography

Jana Levison is a professional engineer, having a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering (environmental option) and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (focus: anthropogenic impacts on fractured bedrock aquifers) from Queen's University. She is an Associate Professor in the School of Engineering  (Water Resources Engineering and Morwick G360 Groundwater Research Institute) at the University of Guelph. She is also the inagural Doody Family Chair for Women in Engineering (2022-2027). Previously she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Université du Québec à Montréal, working on multidisciplinary ecohydrological modeling related to climate change. In 2009-2010 she led engineering and public policy initiatives as the Junior Fellow and Acting Executive Director of the Ontario Centre for Engineering and Public Policy at Professional Engineers Ontario. She has also worked at the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority on the Drinking Water Source Protection team. Dr. Levison was an Associate Editor for Hydrogeology Journal from 2015 to 2019. In 2020, Dr. Levison received the IAH-CNC Early Career Hydrogeologist Award. 

At the University of Guelph Dr. Levison is conducting novel research related to agricultural and climate change impacts on groundwater quality and quantity. Other areas of research interest include: source water protection; appropriate potable water approaches for marginalized communities; and fostering engineering and technological input into public discourse.

Supporting Women in Engineering Goal of New U of G Chair:
https://news.uoguelph.ca/2022/11/supporting-women-in-engineering-goal-of-new-u-of-g-funding/ 

Dr. Jana Levison Receives the IAH-CNC Early Career Hydrogeologist Award:
https://g360group.org/2020/06/25/dr-jana-levison-receives-the-iah-cnc-early-career-hydrogeologist-award/

at Guelph article: 
http://atguelph.uoguelph.ca/2012/12/lessons-from-walkerton-make-water-safety-a-priority/

World Water Day Guelph Mercury article:
http://www.guelphmercury.com/news-story/2786193-world-water-day-experts-says-drugs-in-our-water-well-below-risk-level/

Ontario Grain Farmer articles:
www.ontariograinfarmer.ca/MAGAZINE.aspx
http://ontariograinfarmer.ca/2017/12/01/monitoring-groundwater-pollution/

Environmental Monitor article:
http://www.fondriest.com/news/researchers-pioneer-continuous-groundwater-quality-monitoring-ontario.htm

Latornell Conservation Symposium blog:
http://www.latornellblog.blogspot.ca/2015/06/a-word-from-wise.html

Ontario Milk Producer article:
http://milkboard.dgtlpub.com/issues/2017-07-31/pdf/milkboard_2017-07-31.pdf#page=43

Teaching

Present and/or Past Courses:

  • ENGG*2230 Fluid Mechanics
  • ENGG 2550 Water Management
  • ENGG*3220 Groundwater Engineering
  • ENGG*3340 GIS in Environmental Engineering
  • ENGG*6740 Introduction to Groundwater Modelling
Research Interest
  • Agricultural impacts on groundwater quality and quantity
  • Source water protection
  • Impacts of climate change on hydrological systems
  • Groundwater flow and contaminant transport in fractured geologic media
  • Appropriate potable water technologies for marginalized communities
  • Fostering engineering and technological input into public discourse

Please contact me if you are interested in pursuing graduate studies in one of these areas (jlevison@uoguelph.ca ).

Recent Publications

Journal articles

  • Mackie, C., Lackey, R., Levison, J. and Rodrigues, L. (2022) Groundwater as a source and pathway for road salt contamination of surface water in the Lake Ontario Basin: A review. Journal of Great Lakes Research, 48(1): 24-36, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2021.11.015

  • Marshall, R., Levison, J., Parker, B. and McBean, E. (2022) Septic system impacts on source water: Two novel field tracer experiments in fractured sedimentary bedrock. Sustainability, 14(4), 1959, https://doi.org/10.3390/su14041959

  • Gardner, S., Nguyen, D., Sattolo, N., May, H., Binns, A. and Levison, J. (2022) Characterizing stream planform geometry using a novel application of spectral analysis. Journal of Great Lakes Research, 48(2): 455-467, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2022.01.021

  • Persaud, E. and Levison, J. (2021) Impacts of changing watershed conditions in the assessment of future groundwater contamination risk. Journal of Hydrology, 603D: 127142, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.127142

  • Costa, D., Zhang, H. and Levison, J. (2021) Impacts of climate change on groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin: A review. Journal of Great Lakes Research, 47(6): 1613-1625, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2021.10.011

  • Browne, D., Levison, J., Limay-Rios, V., Schaafsma, A. and Novakowski, K. (2021) Neonicotinoids in groundwater: presence and fate in two distinct hydrogeologic settings in Ontario, Canada, Hydrogeology Journal, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-020-02250-7

  • Khosravi, K., Sartaj, M., Karimi, M., Levison, J. and Lotfi, A. (2021) A GIS-based groundwater pollution potential using DRASTIC, modified DRASTIC, and bivariate statistical models. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13706-y

  • Mackie, C, Levison, J., Binns, A. and O'Halloran, I. (2021) Groundwater-surface water interactions and agricultural nutrient transport in a Great Lakes clay plain system, Journal of Great Lakes Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2020.11.008  

  • Bishop, P., Persaud, E., Levison, J., Parker, B. and Novakowski K. (2020) Inferring flow pathways between bedrock boreholes using the hydraulic response to borehole liner installation. Journal of Hydrology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2019.124267

  • Gardner, S., Levison, J., Parker, B. and Martin, R. (2020) Groundwater nitrate in three distinct hydrogeologic and land use settings in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Hydrogeology Journal, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-020-02156-4

  • Marshall, R., Dejardine, M., Levison, J., Anderson, K. and McBean, E. (2020) Moving towards effective First Nations’ source water protection: barriers, opportunities, and a framework. Water, https://doi.org/10.3390/w12112957  

  • Persaud, E., Levison, J., MacRitchie, S., Berg, S., Erler, A., Parker, B. and Sudicky, E. (2020) Integrated modelling to assess climate change impacts on groundwater and surface water in the Great Lakes Basin using diverse climate forcing. Journal of Hydrology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.124682. 
  • Saleem, S., Levison, J., Parker, B., Martin, R. and Persaud, E. (2020) Impacts of climate change and different crop rotation scenarios on groundwater nitrate concentrations in a sandy aquifer. Sustainability Journal, https://doi.org/10.3390/su12031153. 
  • Rixon, S., Levison, J., Binns, A. and Persaud, E. (2020) Spatiotemporal variations of nitrogen and phosphorus in a clay plain hydrological system in the Great Lakes Basin. Science of the Total Environment, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136328
  • Bishop, P., Persaud, E., Levison, J., Parker, B. and Novakowski K. (2020) Inferring flow pathways between bedrock boreholes using the hydraulic response to borehole liner installation. Journal of Hydrology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2019.124267
  • Marshall, R.E., Levison, J., McBean, E.A. and Parker, B. (2019) Wastewater impacts on groundwater at a fractured sedimentary bedrock site in Ontario, Canada: implications for First Nations’ source-water protection. Hydrogeology Journal, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-019-02019-7

  • Saleem, S., Levison, J., Parker, B., Martin, R. and Persaud, E. (2020) Impacts of climate change and different crop rotation scenarios on groundwater nitrate concentrations in a sandy aquifer. Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.3390/su12031153 

  • Walls, S., Binns, A., Levison, J. and MacRitchie, S. (2020) Prediction of actual evapotranspiration by artificial neural network models using data from a Bowen ratio energy balance station. Neural Computing and Applications, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00521-020-04800-2

  • Larocque, M., Levison, J., Martin, A. and Chaumont, D. (2019) A review of simulated climate change impacts on groundwater resources in eastern Canada. Canadian Water Resources Journal, https://doi.org/10.1080/07011784.2018.1503066
  • Marshall, R., Levison, J., McBean, E., Brown, E. and Harper, S. (2018) Source water protection programs and Indigenous communities in Canada and the United States: a scoping review. Journal of Hydrology,  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.04.070
  • Larocque, M., Cloutier, V., Levison, J. and Rosa, E. (2018) Preface to the Special Issue "Results from the Quebec Groundwater Knowledge Acquisition Program. Canadian Water Resources Journal, 43(2): 69-74, https://doi.org/10.1080/07011784.2018.1472040 
  • Salek, M., Levison, J., Parker, B. and Gharabaghi, B. (2018) CAD-DRASTIC: chloride application density combined with DRASTIC for assessing groundwater vulnerability to road salt application. Hydrogeology Journal, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-018-1801-7
  • Persaud, E., Levison, J., Pehme, P., Novakowski, K. and Parker, B. (2018) Cross-hole fracture connectivity assessed using hydraulic responses during liner installations in crystalline bedrock boreholes. Journal of Hydrology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.11.008 
  • MacDonald, G., Levison, J. and Parker, B. (2017) On methods for in-well nitrate monitoring using optical sensors. Groundwater Monitoring & Remediation, DOI: 10.1111/gwmr.12248, doi/10.1111/gwmr.12248/full 
  • Hachborn, E., Berg, A., Levison, J. and Ambadan, J. (2017) Sensitivity of GRACE-derived groundwater level changes in southern Ontario, Canada. Hydrogeology Journal, DOI: 10.1007/s10040-017-1612-2, http://rdcu.be/tLXt  
  • Levison, J., Larocque, M., Ouellet, M.A., Ferland, O. and Poirier, C. (2016) Long-term trends in groundwater recharge and discharge in a fractured bedrock aquifer – past and future conditions. Canadian Water Resources Journal, DOI: 10.1080/07011784.2015.1037795, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07011784.2015.1037795 
  • Betts, A., Gharabaghi, B., McBean, E., Levison, J., Parker, B. (2015) Salt vulnerability assessment methodology for municipal supply wells. Journal of Hydrology, 531(3): 523-533, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.11.004
  • Girard, P., Levison, J., Parrott, L., Larocque, M., Ouellet, M.A., Green, D. (2015) Modelling cross-scale relationships between climate, hydrology, and individual animals: Generating scenarios for stream salamanders. Frontiers in Environmental Science,  3: 51, DOI: 10.3389/fenvs.2015.00051, http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fenvs.2015.00051/abstract

 

Research Projects Updates

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