https://gwf.usask.ca

Global Water Futures Observatories (GWFO) is a follow-on program from Global Water Futures (GWF), the largest and most published university-led freshwater research program in the world with 213 faculty investigators, 531 end-users, 1,826 new researchers, and a network of 23 Canadian universities working on 65 projects and core teams.

GWF (and now GWFO) has established and/or operates 76 water observation sites, 27 deployable measurement systems, and 31 state-of-the-art university-based environmental and aquatic analysis facilities. These facilities monitor many things ranging from algae activity in freshwater lakes that are the drinking water source for millions of people, to snowpacks and glaciers in the high Canadian Rockies that feed the rivers and streams of western North America and which can contribute to catastrophic flooding, to the health of the Great Lakes, and to contaminants in groundwater used as drinking water sources for Indigenous communities. GWFO provides data to provide early warning and test beds for the prediction of flood, drought, and water quality issues, and operates across seven provinces and territories, including the Great Lakes Basin.

University of Saskatchewan leads the nine-university collaboration that operates the network to monitor and help support the development of solutions for the impending water crisis that Canadians face due to climate change, inadequate water management, the proliferation of toxic contaminants, and environmental degradation.