Research

Fulbright Chair Brooks to deliver presentation

The University of Lethbridge’s Fulbright Canada Visiting Research Chair in Water and the Environment, Dr. Bryan Brooks, will be on campus to deliver his first presentation to a University of Lethbridge audience on Thursday, Dec. 5 from 3 to 4 p.m. in WE1001.

Brooks was appointed a Fulbright Canada Visiting Research Chair earlier this year and will begin his term at the U of L in January 2014. On Thursday, he will be presenting Understanding Risks of Fish on Prozac, Bugs on Drugs and other Harbingers of an Urbanizing Water Cycle.

Human interactions with freshwater remain among the greatest challenges to environmental protection. Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs such as pharmaceuticals) present threats to these water resources, yet information needed to make environmental policy decisions is often lacking for unregulated contaminants, particularly across natural gradients that exist in surface waters.

His presentation will critically examine some lessons learned from studies of pharmaceuticals and other CECs in urbanizing watersheds. It will then focus some attention on related global water quality research needs.

While serving as the Fulbright Visiting Research Chair, Brooks plans to collaborate with University of Lethbridge colleagues to develop a more robust understanding of water quality dynamics in urbanizing watersheds of semiarid regions in Alberta. Multidisciplinary studies in Alberta will leverage ongoing work in semiarid regions of Texas and other parts of North America to advance sustainable water resource management efforts.