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.
The state Court of Appeals on Monday found that members of the Swartzentruber Amish community in southeastern Minnesota don’t need to install septic systems to dispose of “gray water,” which is dirty water left from dishwashing, laundry, bathing, and other tasks not involving toilet waste. Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed court rulings that had required the group to install septic tanks.
The Corps said the permit did not comply with the water quality standards set by the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, whose reservation on the St. Louis River is downstream from the mine and processing plant sites near Babbitt and Hoyt Lakes. The project has long been criticized by environmental and tribal groups for its potential impacts on water resources, but it has also come under increasing fire in recent months from former Gov. Arne Carlson, a Republican who served from 1991-99. In addition to the risks to water quality, Carlson has sounded the alarm about the influence of big mining corporations on Minnesota politics.
The Red River is now expected to spill its banks in several places in Manitoba this spring, but is not projected to rise high enough to threaten any communities protected by ring dikes. Provincial flood forecasters raised the flood risk for the Red River from moderate to major on Wednesday, thanks to major snowstorms in recent weeks south of the border.
Officials in Minnesota are monitoring the cleanup of a massive spill of radioactive water from a nuclear power plant just outside Minneapolis. About 1.5 million litres (400,000 gallons) of nuclear wastewater leaked from the plant back in late November, but the incident wasn’t made public until Thursday. Xcel Energy, the company that operates the affected nuclear power plant, promises that the spill poses no risk to public safety, as did the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
The flooding situation in northwestern Ontario is likely only going to get worse before it gets better, after weeks of record rainfall in the region and more rain in the forecast this weekend. The Lake of the Woods control board is warning of hazardous flows throughout the entire Winnipeg River drainage basin, which includes areas of Ontario, Manitoba and Minnesota. This comes after seven weeks of record rainfall for some areas, on top of a thick snowpack in the region leftover from the winter months. Communities across Canada have reported significant flooding this spring, including in the Northwest Territories, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northern Ontario.
Peat is partially decayed vegetation that accumulates in the cold, water-logged, oxygen-starved bogs and fens of the boreal. As temperatures warm, the peat dries out in the south and thaws in the North, where trees are drowning and rivers and lakes are browning with solid organic carbon that is dissolving in the water. This is leading to the release of massive amounts of carbon into rivers and lakes and the atmosphere. Given that peatlands store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests, climate scientists are closely watching these changes. In addition to mitigating floods, filtering water, and slowing or stopping wildfire, the peat-heavy boreal ecosystem provides nesting sites for one billion to three billion birds that journey north from as far away as Argentina.
Blue-green algae blooms in parts of Lake of the Woods can change the appearance of the water and these blooms have the potential to cause some harm to pets or people who choose to take a drink or a swim. Blue-green algae blooms are common in parts of the lake, which straddles Ontario, Manitoba and Minnesota. However, they are generally not seen late in the year or in some of the locations they are now being found. As well, the blooms can be toxic.
