Environment Canada's National Water Research Institute (NWRI) is Canada's preeminent freshwater research facility, the largest in the country with centres on the shores of the Great Lakes in Burlington, Ontario and in the heart of the Canadian Prairies in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. From these vantage points, NWRI extends its influence across Canada and beyond, leading world-class research on freshwater issues.

A Microbial Source Tracking (MST) workshop was held in Toronto in March 2005 to review the state of MST science and its readiness for widespread application to identify fecal pollution sources in aquatic ecosystems across Canada.

This workshop report outlines: the state of the science; current MST activities in Canada, the U.S. and internationally; and an assessment of fecal pollution source tracking needs and policy “drivers” in Canada. Edited by Environment Canada’s Dr. Tom Edge and Karl Schaefer, it is the most recent report of the NWRI Scientific Assessment Report Series.