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Environment Minister Jim Prentice announced $3.7 million in federal funding for two Canadian universities Monday to study water quality.
The new partnership project is between Ottawa and the universities of Saskatchewan and Lethbridge.
Prentice said the money will go toward research that will address issues such as water quality and quantity.
“There’s no doubt that in Canada we’re blessed with abundant water resources,” Prentice said. “But we can’t take that for granted.”
Prentice said that the end result of the research would be new regulations to deal with waste water discharge.
The announcement came on World Water Day, an initiative that grew out of a 1992 United Nations conference on the environment.
“The international theme for World Water Day 2010 focuses on the importance of water quality. Here at home, the government of Canada also sees water quality as a critical issue,” Prentice said. “By partnering with these universities on world-class science, we are working to preserve Canada’s water quality for today and future generations.”