Dr. David Lobb – University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba’s newly appointed research chair in watershed systems is confident improved coordination will help speed up efforts to improve water quality within Lake Winnipeg.
The Manitoba government has allocated $1.25 million over the next five years to support the appointment of the province’s first ever research chair in watershed systems.
The new chair will be responsible for coordinating a range of research activities related to the Lake Winnipeg watershed involving many organizations.
Dr. David Lobb, who was named to the position last month, suggests there’s a fairly strong consensus that there’s a serious problem in the quality of water in Lake Winnipeg and a concern that there is far too little known about the problem and the solutions to effectively manage water.
Dr. David Lobb-University of Manitoba:
Dr. David Lobb
“It’s a very complicated situation and much more information is needed.
There are many people involved in trying to come up with solutions and I think we now realize that we need to better coordinate our efforts to achieve any substantive solution within the lake.
I think that that is the state of affairs now.
One of the key things we’ll be trying to achieve within this program is to advance the science pertaining to watershed systems.
That’s fairly broad but I think it’s quite important to realize that we need to move the science farther forward in terms of our understanding of the processes that take place within the watersheds and through a better understanding of the processes we’ll be able to better understand how to manage those processes through land use and land management activities within the watersheds.
I’m hoping also that we’ll be able to elevate the level of discussion and debate around water quality.
I think there’s very little known about the some of the processes involved and some of the efficacies of the practices proposed and that’s led to some problems I think in terms of the quality of the debate and some of the politics around this and I’m hoping we can elevate that level of discussion and debate.”
Dr. Lobb is hopeful the watershed systems program will result in improved coordination and greater efficiencies that will allow more rapid progress toward solutions.
For UniversityNews.Org, I’m Bruce Cochrane.
*This post first appeared in the January 13, 2011 edition of University News, a presentation of the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Agricultural & Food Sciences, to learn more click here.
University News is a presentation of the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Agricultural & Food Sciences
