Advancing Canadian Wastewater Assets (ACWA)

University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
What the facility does

Develops novel municipal wastewater treatment systems, performs ecological, molecular and chemical evaluation of advanced wastewater treatment systems

Areas of expertise

Advancing Canadian Wastewater Assets’ (ACWA) primary goal is to develop wastewater treatment technologies that will remove existing and emerging contaminants to improve ecosystem and human health. ACWA's infrastructure is embedded within the City of Calgary’s Pine Creek Wastewater Treatment facility and includes advanced wastewater treatment processes and 12 experimental streams that can be dosed with various constituents of municipal effluents. Together, we use these facilities to demonstrate advanced treatment techniques and the impact of the resultant effluent on the environment.

ACWA's onsite laboratory has state-of-the-art facilities to quantify contaminant residues, identify and culture cells, determine water-borne pathogens and examine gene expression in model organisms. Additional laboratories (microbiology, aquatic and stable isotope) on the University of Calgary campus complement and support ACWA's research program. The first facility of its kind, the ACWA research facility bridges the gap between bench and pilot-scale research laboratories, and applications in full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plants.

The ACWA research facility enables research that cannot be done anywhere else in the world. Current lab-sized facilities cannot realistically replicate actual field situations. Municipal treatment plants around the world are not suited to intensive research programs – particularly if the experiments involve contaminants harmful to people and the environment. We expect that researchers and city planners from around the world will visit Calgary to learn from the system and test their own thinking as they develop solutions for their own unique challenges.

Research services

Prototype testing and evaluation, analytical chemistry service, bioassays, environmental assessment of treatment technologies, molecular analysis, genetic sequencing

Sectors of application
  • Chemical industries
  • Clean technology
  • Environmental technologies and related services
  • Fisheries and aquaculture
  • Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment
Specialized lab Equipment Function
ACWA Pine Creek Analytical Lab Quantitative time-of-flight liquid chromatrography-mass spectrometer Identification of contaminants in wastewater
  Triple quadruple liquid chromatography mass spectrometer Identification of contaminant in wastewater
  High-performance liquid chromatography Identification of contaminant in wastewater
  Inductive coupled plasma – mass spectrometer (ICPMS) Identification of contaminant in wastewater
  Ion chromatograph Identification of contaminant in wastewater
  Gas chromatograph with electron capture detector (GC-ECD) Identification of contaminant in wastewater
  Gas chromatograph with flame ionization detector (GC-FID) Identification of contaminant in wastewater
  Gas chromatograph with nitrogen and phosphorus detector (GC-N&P) Identification of contaminant in wastewater
  Gas chromatograph – mass spectrometer Identification of contaminant in wastewater
  Total organic carbon analyzer (TOC) Used to measure water quality
  Discrete analyzer Rapid assessment of contaminants and nutrients in water
  Biological oxygen demand incubator BOD measurements
  Chemical oxygen demand incubator COD measurements
ACWA Microbiology lab NextSeq 500 Desktop Sequencer DNA sequencing
  Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction Amplification and quantification of target DNA sequences
  Epifluoresence microscope Visualization and quantification of cellular and molecular targets
ACWA Isotope Lab Carbon-specific isotope ratio mass spectrometers Tracing of the fate and determining the conversion of carbon during treatment
  Nitrogen-specific isotope ratio mass spectrometers Tracing of the fate and determining the conversion of nitrogen during treatment
ACWA Aquatic Lab Aquatic flow-thru systems ( 8) Experimental aquatic toxicology testing with cold and warm water species
  Aquatic recirculating systems ( 5)  
  Mass embryo production system Semi-automated Zebrafish embryo collection system
  Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction Amplification and quantification of target DNA sequences
  Digital polymerase chain reaction Amplification of DNA sequences using molecular counting
  Multi-mode micro-plate reader Bioassay analysis using fluorescence, absorption and luminescence
  • IBM Canada Ltd.
  • Agilent Technologies
Title URL
U of C research facility opens at city's wastewater treatment plant http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/u-of-c-research-facility-opens-at-citys-wastewater-treatment-plant