U of G Marks World Water Day
March 21, 2013 - Campus Bulletin
University of Guelph experts will discuss the importance of drinking water to mark the United Nations World Water Day March 22.
Profs. Paul Sibley and Marc Habash, Environmental Sciences, and engineering professor Jana Levison will discuss “Water, Water Everywhere, but Much of It Isn’t Fit to Drink: What Is Guelph Doing About It?” as part of U of G’s BetterPlanet Project speaker series.
They will speak at noon in the University Centre, Room 103.
The School of Engineering will also team up with the City of Guelph and the Ontario Centres of Excellence to hold the first-ever H2O Go Festival: An Engaging Celebration of Water.
The free family-friendly event will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at City Hall. Activities will include interactive teaching displays; children’s games and face painting; prizes; water trivia; skating in Market Square (weather permitting); local performers; and free workshops on grey-water reuse, rainwater harvesting and efficient landscaping. Mayor Karen Farbridge and Anthony Vannelli, dean of the College of Physical and Engineering Science, are scheduled to speak at noon.
Organizer and engineering professor Khosrow Farahbakhsh said the event is “an excellent opportunity for the University to work with the city and bring forward an issue that is of vital importance to so many people but which so many people do not think about.”
In related news, Profs. Thomas Wright, Vern Osborne and John Cant — all in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science — were back in the news with their 2007 study that showed giving flavoured drinking water to calves makes them eat more feed and grow faster. Their research was noted in a release highlighting interesting water facts and research from around the world by Elsevier, a leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, in recognition of World Water Day.
