This text is part of the special Research section
On slides, Sixtine Hauchard shows photos of the Lake Saint-Charles watershed, the main reservoir of drinking water in Quebec City. The young woman has been working for a few months at Agiro, an environmental organization with which she cut her teeth during an internship carried out as part of her professional master’s degree in water sciences at the National Institute for Scientific Research ( INRS).
On an aerial photo taken in 2017, we can see a large dark brown spot in the water along the shores of Lake Saint-Charles. This was the color of the excess stormwater that is discharged directly into it. “When the rains fall in an environment transformed by man, they will generate runoff, collect contaminants, suspended solids and phosphorus, and bring these materials to the lake”, explains the one who is now in charge of projects in sustainable stormwater management at Agiro. Consequently, the water quality drops, and the lake may suffer from eutrophication, an accelerated aging process, which causes its gradual transformation into a marsh.
To remedy these problems, the organization Agiro diverted rainwater from the area to send it to a small, newly created plant purification plant: a filtering marsh. In a first compartment, the excess rainwater is concentrated in a settling ditch, which allows the excess sediment to settle at the bottom. This water continues to be filtered by passing through the substrate and vegetation, a “bioretention area”, before flowing to a pond. When this basin overflows, the water flows through the vegetated banks before reaching the lake.
As part of her internship, Sixtine Hauchard measured the efficiency of this new filtering marsh according to rainfall. To do this, it used in particular water samples taken automatically, measurements of water flow, the rate of fallen precipitation. Finally, does the marsh play its role well? ” Yes ! she replies, illustrating her point with a photo of water samples collected at the entrance and exit of the filtering marsh: some are brown and others almost clear.
Adapted training
“Being put in a telework situation is not the same thing as putting yourself in a situation in the field, with problems that must be answered, underlines the graduate, who is delighted to have lived this experience within the framework of his professional training. It’s a scenario that allows us to prepare for what’s next, for the job market. »
Immersing yourself in the professional environment during their training also allows students to build networks of professional contacts and introduce foreign students to the work culture of the province, adds Sophie Duchesne, professor of hydrology and urban infrastructure at INRS. .
In collaboration with industrial partners, INRS has also set up two interdisciplinary programs to train the next generation in the challenges of the cities of tomorrow. Training in intelligent wireless communications and its applications (PERSWADE) trains the next generation in the context of the emergence of smart cities and the development of smart vehicles and electrical networks. For its part, training in environmental technologies for decontamination and integrated management of waste water and effluents (TEDGIEER) aims to train highly qualified personnel in the eco-responsible management of urban, agricultural and industrial waste.
“With climate change, there will be many impacts on the quantity and quality of water for uses, notes Mme Duchesne. There will be more and more times when we will have less water than usual during heat waves and droughts. Conversely, floods will be more and more frequent. It is essential to train people who can contribute to finding solutions to these problems! »