24- 26 Sept, 2009: How have rivers been put to work? What technologies have transformed their flow regimes? In what ways do rivers serve as the sanitary systems of cities? These are some of the questions which frame and upcoming conference on the comparative industrialization of rivers organized by Stephane Castonguay and supported by the water history project and a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada . The conference addresses particular cases in North America and Europe and will build a broad comparative perspective. Bringing together invited participants from North America and Europe, the conference will travel to meeting sites and field locations in Montreal, Trois-Rivières and Shawinigan as well as places in-between.