W Booth Students Dive into Water Challenges – Faculty of Engineering

W Booth Students Dive into Water Challenges

McMaster students are contributing to the development of a multi-sector strategy to better manage runoff flowing into our region’s extensive watershed.

The Iron Ring statue outside John Hodgins Engineering Building

Graduate students under the supervision of Dr. Dustin Garrick are contributing to the development of a multi-sector strategy to better manage runoff flowing into our region’s extensive watershed. It’s part of ongoing efforts to remediate Hamilton Harbour and its surroundings.

In June 2015, the student team – Fizza Anwar, Pooja Chadee and Catherine Burrows (pictured left to right) – participated in a meeting of the Urban Runoff Task Group chaired by Scott Peck, director, Watershed Planning and Engineering, Hamilton Conservation Authority. The team presented highlights of its work to-date on a project to explore alternative approaches to storm water management in connection with a mixed use development coming to Piers 7 and 8 located in Hamilton’s West Harbour precinct.

This learning project emerged through the W Booth Innovation Studio and is being implemented in cooperation with the City of Hamilton and other partners. “These students are making the most of an exceptional career development opportunity,” said Dr. Garrick. “They’re working on a site-specific project while contributing to a highly complex regional initiative. It’s a perfect example of engineering leadership in practice.”

Gavin Norman, manager, Waterfront Development for the City of Hamilton, is equally positive on the benefits of community-campus collaboration.

“Our team sees this as an excellent opportunity to share knowledge, leverage available resources and see first-hand how the W Booth School can assist the City in implementing our ideas for the waterfront,” he said.