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.
French President Emmanuel Macron sought to rally citizens around a plan to save water on Thursday and stressed that protests will not stop reforms, in a nod to both climate change and an unpopular pension bill. The water-saving plan includes 50 measures, such as fixing leaking pipes, adapting the way farmers and the nuclear industry use water and making water more expensive for those who use it in excess of basic needs.
France is preparing to introduce restrictions on water use in parts of the country from March, in an unprecedented move for the time of year following the driest winter in 64 years, environment minister Christophe Bechu said on Wednesday. France has recorded 32 days without rain, weather forecaster Meteo-France said. Watering and irrigation is already restricted in 87 municipalities in the south, which usually happens in summer, not winter, and meetings with officials on Friday and Monday will look at extending this, Bechu said.
The 19th Global Water Drinks Congress was held in Évian-les-Bains, France, from November 8 to 10. Yili's Inikin mineral water won the 2022 Global Water Drinks Award. Dr. Gerrit Smit, Managing Director of the Yili Innovation Center Europe, attended the ceremony to receive this honor. Zenith Global's annual Global Water Drinks Congress is regarded as the highest level and most influential forum for the global water drinks industry. This year's Congress was held in the French Alps, one of the world's three most pristine water sources, along with the Changbai Mountains in China, and the Caucasus Mountains in Russia. Despite fierce competition from over 150 other participants, the jury presented the top prize to Inikin, a young brand founded in the Arxan and Changbai Mountains, in recognition of its contribution to health and sustainability.
The proposed flow of 250,000 gallons/second represents a lot of water. Converting it into a more normal engineering unit, this would represent about 32,000 cubic feet/second (CFS). That happens to be about the same rate of flow as passes through the generating turbines at Hoover Dam at full capacity. In the original letter, this flow was correctly calculated as the amount of flow necessary to fill Lake Powell in one year. Even at today’s record low level, Lake Powell is not empty. Lesser flows could reduce the costs and difficulty of the project while still providing significant benefits.
Twenty-three-year-old PhD student Emalie Hayes is currently studying Civil Engineering at Dalhousie University. Last year, she created a COVID-19 testing device that can detect the virus through sewers. The COVID-19 sewer cage, called the Cosca, is made by a 3D printer out of plastic, which takes several hours to print, and is then assembled by hand, which takes less than a minute.
