Nicole Hancock
Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony ...

Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.

Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony to heal Chedoke Creek

Florida

Cyber Security Today, Dec. 4, 2023

Cyber Security Today, Dec. 4, 2023

American water treatment utilities are increasingly being targeted by threat actors. You may recall that on Friday afternoon’s Week in Review podcast, I reported that a hacking group believed to be from Iran called CyberAv3ngers claimed credit for taking control of the internet-connected system of a municipal water authority in Pennsylvania. It is believed this group targeted the utility because of a vulnerability in a programmable logic controller it uses from an Israeli company called Unitronics.

Florida mops up after floods close Fort Lauderdale airport

Florida mops up after floods close Fort Lauderdale airport

The water was rising around her car, and Amanda Valentine thought she was going to die. She had just gotten a warning on her phone about flash flooding, and now it was all around her. “I called my parents like, ‘I'm going to die. Like I'm going to drown. There's no way for me to get out of this car,"' Valentine said. "And they couldn't help me. I called 911, and they told me they couldn't help me."

In a first, EPA survey puts a number on lead pipes around U.S.

In a first, EPA survey puts a number on lead pipes around U.S.

Some 9.2 million lead pipes carry water into homes across the U.S., with more in Florida than any other state, according to a new Environmental Protection Agency survey that will dictate how billions of dollars to find and replace those pipes are spent. The survey released Tuesday was the first time the agency asked about lead pipes and gave the best count yet of how many are underground. Florida, with an estimated 1.16 million pipes, was a surprise to one expert. Industrial states like Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania are more typically associated with extensive lead pipe issues.

Person in Florida dies after brain-eating amoeba infection, possibly due to sinus rinse with tap water, health officials warn

Person in Florida dies after brain-eating amoeba infection, possibly due to sinus rinse with tap water, health officials warn

A person in Charlotte County, Florida, has died after being infected with the rare brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri. The infection possibly resulted from "sinus rinse practices utilizing tap water," according to a news release from the Florida Department of Health in Charlotte County. The release was issued in February to alert the public about the infection.

N.B. Power leaping into new ventures to tackle debt

N.B. Power leaping into new ventures to tackle debt

"Given the track record of N.B. Power with things like the whole effort in Florida to look at trying to generate power out of seawater, they shouldn't be going anywhere near creating other subsidiaries," said Green Party leader David Coon. Liberal MLA and energy critic René Legacy says the only examples of potential new N.B. Power business ventures Holland has spoken about are industrial light and the renting of water heaters, something the utility does now. "Well, you're not going to fix N.B. Power's debt with water heater rentals," he said. "That's not realistic."

Cyberattack on Florida water treatment plant raises alarms in Canada

Cyberattack on Florida water treatment plant raises alarms in Canada

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told a news conference Monday that someone remotely accessed a computer for the City of Oldsmar water treatment system on Friday and briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, by a factor of more than 100. The Tampa Bay Times said the chemical is used in small amounts to control the acidity of water, but it’s also a corrosive compound commonly found in household cleaning supplies such as liquid drain cleaners.

Water advocates call for Nestlé’ wells to be returned to municipalities if sale happens

Water advocates call for Nestlé’ wells to be returned to municipalities if sale happens

Water advocates are demanding the exclusion of local wells in any sale of Nestlé’s North American water bottling portfolio, and instead return them to municipalities. This summer Nestlé announced it is considering the sale of most of its North American water bottling business. The intended sale of the Nestlé Pure Life business to Ice River Springs fell through last month because the transaction did not meet the Competition Bureau’s regulatory approval process.

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