With mines in every province and territory, the Canadian mining sector contributes more than $57 billion to the economy and employs 375,000+ people. To reduce pressures on Canada’s freshwater water supplies and develop sustainable approaches, Dr. Lesley Warren’s team at the University of Toronto is applying genomics, geochemistry, and modelling to develop smarter environmental solutions in the Mining Wastewaters Solutions (MWS) Project. A Hudbay Minerals Inc. mine straddling the border of Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba will be the first site in the world to deploy and get regulatory approval to use a new sulfur monitoring tool developed by the MWS team. This strategy not only improves understanding of possible impacts in the receiving environments but also allows mines to proactively steward environmental goals into actionable steps.