Research summary
Water is essential to our health, environment and economy—but it’s under growing threat from climate change and human activity. Dr. Kerri Finlay, Canada Research Chair in Water in a Changing Environment, is trying to understand how these pressures affect water quality in prairie ecosystems, which serve as early indicators of broader environmental change.
She and her research team are examining worsening threats like toxic algal blooms, freshwater salinization and chemical pollutants, as well as emerging risks like antimicrobial-resistant pathogens and extreme climate events. By combining decades of long-term data with innovative experiments and community-based water monitoring, Finlay and her team are uncovering how these factors interact and where we can intervene. Their goal is to identify practical, science-based solutions to protect water quality for future generations—supporting not only environmental sustainability, but also public health, agriculture, and Indigenous rights and traditions.