This text is part of the special Quebec engineering booklet
With global warming, learning to better manage stormwater is at the heart of the challenges facing our cities. Sophie Duchesne, professor and researcher at the Eau Terre Environnement Center of the National Institute for Scientific Research (INRS), has a cascade of projects on the subject.
“I have always enjoyed understanding and describing how things work and finding solutions to concrete problems, which led me to genius. I also have an interest in nature and the preservation of the environment”, says the one who obtained a doctorate in water sciences at INRS. After a stay in France at the Commissariat for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies (CEA), she worked for the City of Ottawa before joining INRS in 2003. “I am interested in everything related to management of water in urbanized environments, from a quantitative angle (quantities of water and mathematical modeling to help better manage water resources)”, she sums up.
From drinking water to rainwater
Sophie Duchesne’s research at INRS covers three categories of subjects, starting with improving the distribution of drinking water in municipalities to reduce the quantities of energy needed, costs and water losses. “We aim to optimize the distribution of water in cities by using, in particular, mathematical models and advanced decision-making tools. We also seek to improve our response to problematic situations, such as water contamination,” she explains.
The second part of his research focuses on rainwater collection and management networks. “It’s about managing them better to reduce the risk of flooding, protect citizens and infrastructure, but also to protect our waterways from contaminants from rainwater or excess water. We apply different approaches that have been recognized for a long time, but have only recently been used in Quebec, to retain rainwater on site, infiltrate it and use natural infrastructures to manage it,” explains the professor. It also works on the management and renewal of underground networks for the distribution of drinking water and the collection and transport of rainwater and wastewater.
Adapt to climate change
For several years, Sophie Duchesne has been developing a research program with Professors Geneviève Pelletier and Guillaume Grégoire, from Laval University, which aims to assess how vegetated infrastructures can better manage rainwater in cold climates.
Experimental sites have been installed in several municipalities in Quebec, including an incentive parking lot in Boucherville using permeable paving with vegetated bioretention structures. These make it possible to retain rainwater and infiltrate it into the ground, the plants also carrying out a work of “evapotranspiration”. “We are sort of recreating the natural cycle of city water by promoting infiltration and evaporation rather than letting this water run off very quickly on impermeable surfaces and sending it into drainage networks”, describes the teacher. The research team was able to measure that more than 90% of common contaminants (pollutants) were removed from stormwater due to permeable paving with bioretention.
The water engineering specialist, who regularly collaborates in her research with urban planners, experts in phytotechnology, urban ecosystems (fauna and flora), adaptation to climate change, but also in social sciences (for social acceptance and improving the quality of life), is optimistic about the future of our cities. “There is still a lot of work to do, but the solutions we are developing will reduce heat islands and the risk of flooding in urban areas,” she says. By learning how to better manage our stormwater, we try to replicate what nature has always done well rather than trying to control it, and we find solutions to adapt to climate change. »
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.