Alongside elected representatives of the City of Laval and the City of Montreal, as well as industrial and government partners, the Executive Director of the École Polytechnique de Montréal, Robert L. Papineau, and Professors Michèle Prévost and Benoit Barbeau officially inaugurated the NSERC Industrial Chair on the Treatment and Distribution of Drinking Water. Dr. Prévost, Dr. Barbeau and their teams manage an operating budget of just over $7.3 million over five years to pursue their research. More than $2.5 million is provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The investment of the industrial partners, namely the City of Montreal, the City of Laval and the firm of John Meunier Inc., is $1.5 M, $300 K and $750 K respectively.

A first in Canada: mobile laboratories
Five million dollars' worth of new equipment is being provided to the researchers, which includes mobile treatment units, a first in Canada, equipped with state-of-the-art analytical tools for the detection of emerging contaminants like pharmaceutical compounds. With these highly equipped, completely automated and exceptionally flexible mobile units, it will be possible to perform on-site validation of a large number of processes and combinations of processes as a function of variations in the quality of raw water.

Onboard these impressive mobile laboratories (they are 16 metres long, and contain 6 km of electrical wiring and more than 300 taps), researchers will be able to analyze samples and conduct treatment tests. This new research equipment is being financed by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport (MELS), as part of a grant to set up CREDEAU, a research centre founded in 2003 for the development and validation of water treatment technologies and processes.

The quality of drinking water: A challenge for society
One of the primary international challenges of the 21st century will be, without question, providing access to high-quality drinking water. Maintaining the quality of drinking water is first and foremost a question of protecting public health. Of all the possible uses for water, the one with the most direct impact on communities is drinking water. "The renewal of our water treatment and distribution infrastructures poses major technical and financial challenges to society," says senior chairholder Professor Michèle Prévost. "We are engaged in an applied research program, the results of which will provide concrete answers to municipalities that will have direct impacts on communities and on public health. Innovative technological solutions will make it possible to respect the latest quality standards and to better protect public health."

Assistant chairholder Professor Barbeau has a warning, "Recent studies show the presence of a large number of contaminants in trace concentrations in our drinking water. This raises fundamental questions about their source, their true impact on health and on our capacity to remove them economically. Through our activities, we will be supporting the choices made by municipalities in that we will take into account emerging water quality problems, among them the question of the impact of climate change on the design of drinking water treatment facilities. There is nothing more rewarding for our team than to see that our research is contributing in a concrete way to the well-being of those around us."

Valuable and relevant partnerships
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has renewed, without hesitation, its support of a third mandate for the Chair. In the words of NSERC chair Suzanne Fortier: "Polytechnique has made the research of Professors Prévost and Barbeau a core priority. The Chair's program offers students a great opportunity to conduct research and to learn in a field that is at the forefront of society's current concerns. This is an excellent example of a enduring partnership, the fallout from which will benefit both Polytechnique and society in general."

Supplying high-quality drinking water is the most basic service that a municipality can provide to the community. In over 95% of cases, the treatment and distribution of water in Canada are services provided by cities and towns, which is why the City of Laval and the City of Montréal are participating in the project. "The objectives pursued by the Chair are in perfect alignment with the City of Montréal's water management policy. In addition, it has been possible for the solutions developed by the Chair's research team for the treatment of Montréal's water to be shared with the Cities of Vancouver and Moncton," adds Sammy Forcillo, a member of the Executive Committee and the official in charge of infrastructure and roads for the city. "A clear advantage of this type of partnership is that it becomes possible, and easy, to transfer knowledge from one municipality to another," says André Boileau, vice-chair of the Executive Committee of the City of Laval.

Another important partner is the firm of John Meunier Inc. (JMI), a manufacturer of water treatment systems and Canadian subsidiary of the multinational firm, Veolia Water. "We are convinced that this association with internationally renowned academic leaders in the field enables us to continually improve our technologies in order to provide a product of exceptional quality to our customers," explains JMI president Gilles Filion.

Full employment for graduates - a bright future
The NSERC Industrial Chair on Drinking Water has contributed to an increase in the availability of quality personnel in the drinking water treatment and distribution field. This expanding field is currently experiencing an acute need for qualified manpower to respond to the demand created by the major investments in infrastructure being made by cities and towns. The fact is that the sad events in Walkerton have precipitated a review of water quality regulations across Canada.

The new regulations require the installation of new treatment plants, which is why we are now seeing such a severe shortage of highly qualified personnel. The need for manpower could last for a fairly long period of 15 years or so, which will translate into a durable employment cycle that will be stable for the foreseeable future. Today, the great majority of students trained by the Chair find jobs in their field of study, whether in private industry or in municipalities and government agencies.

Recognized and applicable scientific results
The work of the NSERC Industrial Chair on Drinking Water, which has entered its third mandate, is structured around four avenues of investigation: microbiological and chemical characterization of the water resource, optimization of treatment processes, maintenance of the quality of the water in distribution systems, and public health. The research themes are innovative and in line with the primary priorities identified in Québec, in Canada and internationally. They cover topical Canadian issues related to the treatment and distribution of drinking water, namely disinfection, the treatment of trace organic compounds and the integrity of distribution networks.

The activities of this new Chair therefore fit well into current and ongoing research, while at the same time looking towards the future. It is founded on a proven model of collaboration with water industry representatives with a view to the consolidation of research efforts. Its mission is to produce scientifically recognized results that are applicable by the industry, thereby positioning the École Polytechnique and its industrial partners as leaders in the drinking water field.

Some typical examples

• The City of Montréal has benefitted from, among other things, the Chair's work in modifying the hydraulics management of its distribution system, with a view to improving the quality of the water in the system, and optimizing the choice of treatment for repairing its treatment plants.
• The City of Laval has benefitted from the Chair's work on treatment, which has produced tools to support both operations and decision-making. This work has led, in particular, to the development and validation of a biological filtration model for drinking water which functions even in cold water. This model is presently being applied in Laval, Terrebonne and Vancouver, as well as in Sweden and the United States.
• Thanks to the Chair's work and their access to a variety of consultants, the firm of John Meunier Inc. profits a great deal from the research results produced by these scientists. Indeed, the Chair has played a supporting role in the validation of high-rate filtration and settling systems. The results of this research are now being applied throughout the world and have been a popular subject of investigation in the literature.
• Through their work, the Chair has had an impact on the formulation of regulations and the application of drinking water quality standards across Canada. Principal chairholder Professor Michèle Prévost has given her support to various bodies and committees, such as the American Water Works Association Research Foundation (AWWARF), the World Heath Organization (WHO), the Réseau Environnement sur la révision des normes d'eau potable Committee in Québec and the Walkerton Commission Advisory Committee (Part II).

For its third mandate, the NSERC Industrial Chair on Drinking Water Treatment and Distribution intends to pursue its mission of education, innovation and technological transfer, thanks to the renewed support of its partners and its access to new research infrastructures that are unique in Canada.

Photos of members of the Chair and the mobile drinking water treatment unit may be downloaded from our FTP site.

Founded in 1873, the École Polytechnique de Montréal (EPM) ranks among the leading institutions of higher learning and research in engineering in Canada, and is the premier institution in Québec in terms of the number of its students and the range of its research activities. Polytechnique teaches in 11 engineering specialties and is responsible for nearly one-quarter of the engineering research conducted in Québec universities. The EPM has a staff of 220 professors and almost 6,000 students. In addition to its annual operating budget of $85 million, the EPM has a research and infrastructure fund of $60.6 million, and grants and contracts worth $37.3 million. Polytechnique is affiliated with the Université de Montréal.

-30-

Source:
Chantal Cantin       
Service des communications et du recrutement  
École Polytechnique de Montréal
Tel.: (514) 340-4711, local 4970
chantal.cantin@polymtl.ca

Information:
Andrée Peltier
Relations publiques Andrée Peltier Inc.
Tel.: (514) 846-0003
Cell: (514) 944-8689
apeltier@ca.inter.net