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.
Regina's executive committee has voted to receive updates on the city's efforts to remove lead water connections every two years rather than annually. The decision was a compromise between some councillors that wanted to continue receiving yearly updates and others who say receiving the reports on annual basis is an inefficient use of council's time.
The problem of lead in Regina’s drinking water has been a discussion point for many years at city hall and in the community. An investigation led by Concordia University’s Institute for Investigative Journalism, published in 2019, found that tap water in Regina, Moose Jaw and Saskatoon had some of the highest measured levels of lead in Canada.
The tap water in the Regina and Moose Jaw areas might smell funky and taste a little off these days, but the people responsible for the water say it's still safe to drink. There has been a prolonged and severe bloom of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) at Buffalo Pound Lake, which is where the tap water comes from, "These organisms produce some compounds, chemical compounds, that produce the taste and odours that people describe as algae or musty," said Blair Kardash, who is the laboratory manager at the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant.
Early algae blooms are to blame for the musty water some people are noticing in Regina and Moose Jaw these days, according to experts at the Buffalo Pound water treatment plant, which services both cities. Blair Kardash, the plant's manager of laboratory and research, told CBC News his team first detected the "odour materials" from the growing algae in Buffalo Pound Lake — where the water comes from before it's filtered — at the end of April.
In 1967, when the Gardiner Dam backed up the South Saskatchewan River to create the 200-km-long Lake Diefenbaker in the middle of Saskatchewan, the plan was to irrigate 500,000 parched acres. To this day, the giant T-shaped lake — named after Saskatchewan politician and Canada’s 13th Prime Minister, John George Diefenbaker — irrigates only 100,000 to 150,000 acres. “The Dief” is, one might say, an untapped resource, a ’60s-era feat of engineering stuck in vaporization mode. (It is said the lake loses more water to evaporation each year than it gives up for crop watering.)
Anyone who watched CTV’s W5 investigation into asbestos-cement water pipes probably went straight to the show’s website after the episode had finished to find out how many of those pipes are in Kelowna’s water system. CTV surveyed 100 Canadian municipalities to find out who has asbestos-cement pipes in their system. W5 came up with 195 kilometres of asbestos-cement pipes, or 32 per cent, in the Kelowna water system.
W5 investigated aging asbestos pipes across Canada and the potential health hazards if it ends up in your tap water. We spent several months trying to get to the bottom of two things: Where are these pipes, and is there asbestos in Canada’s water? We reached out and asked over 100 towns, districts and municipalities what types of pipes were in use, and whether there were maps of these networks.
Over 500 kilometres of asbestos cement pipes run through Regina’s water utility system, according to findings from a W5 investigation. Due to their supposed durability and low cost, over two million kilometres of asbestos cement pipes could be found around the world at one point, with Canada being no exception. Asbestos was once considered a miracle mineral, being used in thousands of products for its insulating and fireproofing properties.
Levels of the COVID-19 virus in Saskatoon’s wastewater are back on the rise, according to the University of Saskatchewan’s Global Institute for Water Security. Researcher Femi Oloye said in an email that in the most recent reporting period, the viral RNA load in Saskatoon and Prince Albert increased, while North Battleford saw a decrease. Up to Jan. 25, Saskatoon’s wastewater viral load increased by 97.6 per cent, sitting at a medium level and the 43rd highest concentration measured in the city. That increase comes after weeks of relative stability and most recently, a decrease of 59.4 per cent.
Kurtis Anderson says the water at his home in Regina's south end smells and tastes terrible. "It really just kind of smells like soil, like organic matter," he said in an interview on Friday. The problem, which began a few weeks ago, is not just limited to drinking water. His family's clothes have the same cloying smell after being run through the wash, their dishes appear to be coated in something and even the water in the shower reeks. "It seems to come and go a little bit, but there's times where it's really bad," Anderson said. The problem isn't coming from inside their home. It's coming from the water source.
University of Regina researchers say the amount of SARS-CoV-2 circulating in the city's wastewater remains high, but is down from previous levels. The latest analysis for the week of Oct. 30 through Nov. 5 showed a mixture in COVID levels for the cities studied. Analysis of the City of Moose Jaw's wastewater shows an increase in virus, putting that city's COVID levels at a moderate-high level.
Safe drinking water? That’s another matter. Too expensive. Too hard to schedule. It’ll take at least 15 years. Meanwhile, over 3,000 central Regina homes are hooked to aging City infrastructure that is leaching lead into their drinking water at alarming rates, as reported in the Leader-Post in 2019 as part of a national investigation. Among a lengthy list of threats, lead is linked to low-weight babies, kidney damage and early onset dementia. Children face lower IQ, learning disabilities, hearing problems and slowed growth. The city has known about the problem at least since 2017, when a random study of 89 central Regina homes recorded some sky-high lead levels.
Smart water meters and asset management are some items on the agenda for Regina city council's meeting Wednesday afternoon. Last week, the city's executive committee signed off on new bylaw amendments to help introduce new smart water meters in every home and business in the city. According to a report by city staff presented to the executive committee, the new meters align with the city's goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. On Wednesday, council must decide whether to approve the changes.
Some residents of Regina's Lakeview neighbourhood woke up to the sound of car alarms and a flooded street. A water main broke at Hill Avenue and Argyle Road around 4:30 a.m. CST Monday. Ted Deller, a former CBC Saskatchewan newsreader who lives in the neighbourhood, found about 10 vehicles that were flooded. "Flooding started at 4:30 a.m. and was flowing by our house. I tried walking toward the end of the street but the water was up to the top of my firefighter boots threatening to go in," he said. "Car alarms were going off. Their electrical systems had shorted out, headlights were on, the windshield wipers were running and the trunk popped open."
Science has always been a big part of Mireya Zigler's life. Zigler's dad was an environmental science teacher at Martin Collegiate in Regina, and she admits to having a bit of a dinosaur obsession as a kid. Now, Zigler and her Grade 10 classmates at Dr. Martin LeBoldus High School will get to explore their passion for science further, as they become environmental stewards at McKell Wascana Conservation Park. The project is a partnership between the school and Ducks Unlimited to make the roughly 70-hectare (171-acre) park in east Regina a wetland centre of excellence — part of a national network of schools and community partners for the conservation organization.
Regina is taking the final steps toward having new automated water meters installed at every business and home in the city. On Wednesday, the city's executive committee signed off on new bylaw amendments that will help clear the path for the introduction of the new technology. City council must still vote on the changes at a future meeting for them to become reality. According to a report by city staff presented to executive committee, the new meters align with the city's goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan say levels of COVID-19 were down in Prince Albert and Saskatoon in the latest tests of wastewater samples. Researchers with the university's Global Water Futures program have been analyzing wastewater samples from Saskatoon, North Battleford and Prince Albert for COVID-19 since summer 2020. The study's results can help predict a rise or fall of COVID-19 diagnoses about a week in advance. The latest samples show the week-over-week SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA load in Saskatoon's wastewater decreased by 36.2 per cent.
Saskatchewan researchers scanning sewers for COVID-19 may soon be on the lookout for other viruses. Wastewater epidemiology teams in Saskatoon and Regina are considering searching for monkeypox and polio, two viruses that are on the rise in North America. “Basically, we’re trying to translate what we’ve done for the SARS-CoV-2 methodology and see how well it works for these other viruses,” said University of Regina biology professor Tzu-Chiao Chao. Wastewater testing looks for traces of viruses or other contaminants in sewage.
Seven homes on the Muscowpetung Saulteaux Nation, approximately 65 kilometres northeast of Regina, were recently evacuated after floodwater from a nearby stream moved in earlier this week. It came after over 100 millimetres of rain fell in the area late Monday and through the day Tuesday. Jim Pratt, an emergency coordinator for the First Nation, told CBC the heavy rain filled the stream with water. When it began backing up at culverts running underneath Township Road 210 — a gravel road upstream from Muscowpetung — it started running over the road. The road and culverts eventually gave way.
Construction has officially begun on the $325.6-million Buffalo Pound water treatment plant renewal project. A number of MLAs, mayors, board members, employees and more were in attendance for the first shovels hitting the ground in Buffalo Pound Monday. The plant will serve communities such as Regina, Moose Jaw, Grand Coulee, Pense, Bethune and several other communities with clean drinking water. In total, more than 260,000 people in the area will access the water. “This treatment plant has served the residents of Regina and Moose Jaw with safe, high-quality drinking water and frankly we don’t exist without it,” said Regina Mayor Sandra Masters.
