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.
International Joint Commission
The International Joint Commission, a body that manages water rights along the US-Canada border, has confirmed its IT security was targeted, after a ransomware gang claimed it stole 80 GB of data from the organization. "The International Joint Commission has experienced a cybersecurity incident, and we are working with relevant organizations to investigate and resolve the situation," a spokesperson for the org told The Register.
The British Columbia government has changed its tune on a long-requested investigation into contamination from mines flowing into U.S. waters, opening the door to progress on an issue that has drawn the attention of President Joe Biden. The province has confirmed to The Canadian Press that it would now welcome a role in such an investigation for the International Joint Commission, a body created in 1909 to resolve water-related disputes between the two countries.
A joint letter from meeting participants, and putting sustained pressure on the International Joint Commission (IJC) to have it address low water levels in Lake St. Lawrence. Those were two of the approaches bandied about earlier this week at an Impacts to Lake St. Lawrence meeting held at South Stormont council chambers in Long Sault. “We need to sustain pressure,” said Frank Hummel, representing the Moulinette Island Residents’ Association at the gathering. “One letter may move (the IJC) but I doubt it. We need to map out a plan for (the rest of) 2022, 2023, and 2024. How are we going to keep our voice in the backside of the IJC?”
The need for water quality along Georgian Bay is no mere drop in the bucket. Members of the Georgian Bay Great Lakes Foundation (GBGLF) addressed Tiny Township council at the recent committee of the whole meeting, presenting an update on Georgian Bay water levels and water quality, and asking the township for a letter of support for funding from the federal government.
Water pollution in the Kootenay watershed has six Ktunaxa Nation governments and several U.S. federal agencies calling on Canada to take part in a submission to the International Joint Commission (IJC). Ktunaxa Nation officials said Nasuʔkins (Chiefs) and council members from every local Ktunaxa government met to discuss the issue on June 7 in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.
The United States government, including President Joe Biden's White House, has joined calls for Canada to participate in a probe of cross-border pollution coming from coal mines in southern British Columbia. In a statement released last week, the U.S. State Department said Biden supports a joint investigation of selenium coming from Teck Resources' Elk Valley coal mines, which flows into rivers and lakes south of the border.
The six governments of the Ktunaxa Nation continue to press the federal government on pollution in the Kootenay watershed that crosses the international border between Canada and the United States. Earlier this month, leadership with the six Ktuanxa governments recently met with representatives fro the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Geological Survey on the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho’s reservation lands in Bonner’s Ferry.
When the Boundary Waters Treaty governing waters straddling the U.S.-Canada border was drawn up more than a century ago, concerns such as climate change and replacing the infrastructure were totally unknown. Now, a Schulich School of Engineering professor and researcher is heading up an independent cross-border study into updating the oldest piece of legislation governing the use of water that runs between the two countries. Dr. Alain Pietroniro, PhD, is an internationally respected expert in hydrology and sustainable water systems, having spent more than three decades studying water resources engineering. Through his involvement with the International Joint Commission, Pietroniro is co-chairing a study of the treaty, to examine the options of improving access to study the shared waters of the St. Mary and Milk Rivers, which cross the Alberta-Montana border.
On today’s date in 1972, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and U.S. President Richard Nixon began a two-day visit in Ottawa, where they would sign the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The agreement was inspired by recommendations from the International Joint Commission (IJC), which reported excessive levels of phosphorus in the Great Lakes before concluding pollution was happening on both sides of the border.
A new report has been released by the International Joint Commission (IJC) for public review as part of the ongoing debate over Plan 2014, a controversial regulation plan to manage water levels on Lake Ontario. The phase-one report, the first of two to be released later, makes six recommendations on the road to helping better prepare for crisis high-water levels along Lake Ontario shorelines that wreaked havoc in 2017, 2019 and in early 2020.
Joint Canada-U.S. regulators of Lake Ontario water levels say they are monitoring ice-cover conditions to ensure proper outflows from the Moses Saunders Dam into the St. Lawrence River. Outflows from Lake Ontario are higher than usual for this time of the year, said regulators. International Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River Board said, “although flows have been reduced, the outflows remain relatively high compared to the historical record. The average Lake Ontario outflow for January 2022 is currently the fourth highest on record since 1900 (following 2020, 2021, and 1987), and the January mean Lake Ontario level is the 15th highest on record since 1918.”
Heavy storms don’t automatically create a greater risk to drinking water for residents in the Great Lakes region, but increased monitoring and better co- ordinated health data collection is needed, according to a report released by the International Joint Commission. The IJC is a binational government body assigned to tackle issues of concern on shared waterways between the two countries. Health professionals assigned by the IJC first began looking at data in connection with drinking water back in 2015 and determined that heavy storms — increasing in numbers due to climate change — warranted a closer look.
Thirty-four years ago, the St. Clair River was proclaimed an environmental disaster. Now, environmental and business groups are working to resolve one of the most intractable impairments to the river — restrictions on drinking water consumption or taste and odor problems with the water. Sheri Faust, president of the Friends of the St. Clair River, is hoping that enough progress can be made by 2022 to remove the impairment. On Oct. 19, the Friends hosted a Zoom presentation on the status of drinking water from the river. About 25 people tuned into the mini-conference.
Plan 2014, which the International Joint Commission (IJC) uses to manage water levels and flows in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River is currently under review, however, any major changes to the plan are still a long way off. Criticism of the plan prompted an expedited review which began in early 2020. Wendy Leger of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management (GLAM) Committee, which is carrying out the review, says the first phase of the review is scheduled to be completed by the end of October. Leger made the comments in a recent IJC webinar.
After a 3 1/2 year study, the International Souris River Study Board has released its draft report and recommendations for public comment. The report, “Managing Water Supply and Flood Control in the Souris River Basin,” recommends potential reservoir operation options to improve flood control and water supply. The International Joint Commission (IJC) established the Study Board in 2017 in response to a request by both the Canadian and United States governments. This request was precipitated by the flood in the Souris River basin in 2011.
The International Joint Commission (IJC) held a public meeting on Tuesday, June 15 to discuss water levels in Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River. The IJC is a bi-national governing body comprised of representatives of Canada and the United States (US) which manages the water levels of Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence River. IJC U.S. Secretary Bryce Carmichael told the audience of the virtual meeting that the organization was dealing with drought conditions throughout the region this season.
U.S. Senator Jon Tester is calling on the U.S. State Department to get involved in the ongoing effort to stem the flow of pollution from Canadian mines to waterways in Northwest Montana. In a letter, Tester urged Secretary of State Antony Blinken to request a referral to the International Joint Commission (IJC) concerning the selenium contamination issue in the Kootenai watershed in Montana, and for the State Department to engage with the Canadian government and the IJC to resolve this critical transboundary water quality issue.
City officials have launched Toronto's largest and most significant storm water management program — the Don River and Central Waterfront and Connected Project — which will halt the flow of sewage into Lake Ontario and clean up waterways. The first phase of the five-phase project — the Coxwell Bypass Tunnel — will see a 10.5 kilometre long and 6.3 metre wide tunnel built at a cost of $400 million. The overall project is expected to cost $3 billion.
Climate change is a deciding factor in record high water levels in the Great Lakes being higher than ever before, a University of Waterloo professor told CTV’s Your Morning on Wednesday. According to government statistics, July water levels for the bodies of water between Canada and the U.S. were at record highs. And this can lead to faster erosion of the coastline and flooding. The flooding this spring and summer along the northern shores of Lake Ontario, the Toronto Islands and some Toronto-area beaches has been particularly troublesome for homeowners and businesses.
