They'd studied samples taken from Hamilton Harbour, but until Friday the McMaster University students aboard a small tour boat had never actually been out on the water.
Dustin Garrick, the recently appointed Philomathia Foundation Professor in Water Policy and Research at McMaster and one of the organizers of the university's Water Week conference wanted to change that.
"We live in the borders of Hamilton Harbour, Lake Ontario. We can observe with our own eyes some of the impacts on water quality … it really does require developing that personal connection to inspire action." Garrick said.
A geographer by training, Garrick specializes in water issues and has a special interest in extreme weather events like the recent Burlington floods.
McMaster's Dustin Garrick organized the university's Water Week conference, which concluded on Friday. (John Rieti/CBC)
"Our local challenges are now at the top of the global agenda," Garrick said, pointing to the city's efforts to deal with climate change, pollution and dangerous events like the August flood are the same as other governments around the world.
The conference looked at many of these issues, from setting goals about providing water to the UN-estimated 780 million people who lack access to clean water, to the policies protecting the water in the Great Lakes.
Garrick said the conference was also designed with the idea of bringing together students and professors with different specialties – from governance to engineering to water-focused biochemistry.
"A lot of these local water challenges are clear and present and we need to work collaboratively to solve them," Garrick said.
On Friday, about 20 students signed up for the two tours of Hamilton Harbour.
BARC's Chris McLaughlin, second right, said the conditions in Hamilton Harbour have improved dramatically in the last 30 years, but there's still a lot of work to be done. (John Rieti/CBC)
Chris McLaughlin, the Executive Director of the Bay Area Restoration Council (BARC), joined the students on the boat to outline both the harbour's history and its potential.
"The biggest problem that we face right now, is that it looks really good. And so it's hard to imagine that 'stinking rotten quagmire of filth and poisonous waste,' as it was described 50 years ago," McLaughlin said.
"That doesn't mean we don't have a ton of things to do."
McLaughlin said one of BARC's biggest goals is getting off a list of the most polluted places in the Great Lakes.
"That's going to go so, so, far in changing the channel on perceptions of Hamilton," he said.
But, McLaughlin says, there's a ton of work to do before that day comes, and he invited the students to help.
Even if they don't keep doing lab work, he said, they can just be an ambassador about the harbour.
"Individuals can make a difference … engage with the public. Try and change people's hearts and minds. Tell them something they don't know," McLaughlin said.
"The community here has been physically, legally, emotionally, psychologically cut off from the bay for at least a couple of generations, so the idea that you would actually come down here is still the furthest thing from people's mind."
Today's outing was a good first step, McLaughlin said, in opening some eyes to the nicer aspects of the harbour.
"When you get down here you realize we have things that other places can only dream of having. We want to make them better."
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