Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

Across Canada - and much of North America - municipalities legally require all new developments to constructx000D
storm water management facilities (SWMF) that accumulate all neighbourhood runoff water prior to drainagex000D
into sewer systems and eventually natural water bodies. Residential development SWMFs reduce landscapex000D
water flow and contamination into neighbouring communities by up to 80%. However, because SWMFx000D
outflow is not treated prior to farther downstream entry, pollutants captured in SWMF water is transferred tox000D
natural ecosystems. This has been found to have a variety of negative impacts on downstream environments,x000D
municipalities and their citizens. Globally and individually biochar and biodiversity have reduced pollutantx000D
levels transferred downstream. This project has three questions about the optimal level of biochar applicationx000D
in rebuilt ecosystems: what level of biochar maximizes native vegetation establishment success; does it alsox000D
maximize invasive species inhibition; and is this correlated to soil organic carbon, nitrogen and/or phosphorusx000D
storage in the plants and soils to a level that can significantly reduce downstream pollutant water flow. Thex000D
outcomes of this project will provide vital information needed to create protocols and guidelines to maximizex000D
the water quality delivered from urban systems to protect natural water bodies and Canadians downstream.x000D
This research is relevant to the industrial partner as results from the research will guide their design of SWMFx000D
to minimize the cost and maximize the ecological function of such facilities. Results from this study will alsox000D
be applicable across all Canadian boreal biome SWMF and other emerging provincial and territorialx000D
regulations.