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

SARS-CoV-2 virus

Here's how a Calgary lab monitors wastewater for respiratory diseases

Here's how a Calgary lab monitors wastewater for respiratory diseases

Inside the Pine Creek wastewater treatment plant in the south of Calgary, a lab run by the University of Calgary is busy processing wastewater samples from municipalities across the province. This lab, along with one operated by the University of Alberta, started tracing levels of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater in early 2020 — providing Alberta Health Services with infection trends in different communities. Now the project has expanded to check for influenza A and B, as well as RSV — respiratory viruses that are all currently putting a strain on Alberta's health care system.

As COVID spikes in wastewater across Canada, Halifax project hopes for funding renewal

As COVID spikes in wastewater across Canada, Halifax project hopes for funding renewal

As average levels of coronavirus found in Ottawa’s wastewater hit record highs and case numbers climb across the country, a wastewater surveillance project in Nova Scotia may soon see its funding renewed. Launched last January, the goal of the research project was to track the presence of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia wastewater to help researchers more quickly identify the SARS-CoV-2 virus before it can spread. That project is winding down.

Why testing sewage for COVID-19 could be more useful than ever

Why testing sewage for COVID-19 could be more useful than ever

The COVID-19 testing system has been overwhelmed by the Omicron variant, making it impossible to know how many people are infected. Monitoring for the novel coronavirus in wastewater could help fill the gap, says Rob Delatolla, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Ottawa and one of dozens of researchers across Canada that have been developing and using the technique. "I think it just became that much more valuable," he said.

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