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 purest water in the world, bubbling up to the surface between Waverley and Elmvale, will be featured on TVO's The Water Brothers episodes Thursday and Sunday nights. The episode entitled 'The World's Oldest Water' has hosts Tyler and Alex Mifflin looking into not only the oldest water in the world found near Timmins, but also the purest water and that's right here in north Simcoe.
When people use the phrase "it must be something in the water," they are likely referring to anywhere else but North Simcoe. University of Alberta renewable resources professor Michael Powell addressed the recent meeting of Midland council with a request that could impact area residents. “We would like the town of Midland to join in as an official partner on a groundwater study that will attempt to unravel the scientific secrets of why the waters of Simcoe County are so pristine,” pitched Powell to council.
A University of Alberta researcher is receiving $1.4 million over seven years to support the creation of a circular water system. "Eventually we're going to have to be very careful with our water," Mohamed Gamal El-Din told CBC's Radio Active, after being named Canada Research Chair in sustainable and resilient wastewater treatment for reuse. He is one of 12 scholars at the U of A receiving the academic honour to advance their work for a greener future.
A team of experts is working to better understand the spread of blue-green algae in Alberta lakes by combining satellite technology with near-simultaneous water sampling. The project, funded through Alberta Innovates, is a collaboration between several groups, including Alberta Lake Management Society (ALMS), the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI), and researcher Rolf Vinebrooke from the University of Alberta.
If you drive the Icefields Parkway through the Canadian Rockies, you'll pass multiple turquoise-coloured lakes that are popular with tourists for taking photos. The lakes get their iconic colour from rock flour, which is similar in appearance to baker's flour used for making bread. Rock flour is made from glaciers grinding rocks into powder, which can take thousands of years.
Research was conducted in a growth chamber that compared the growth of spinach in three conditions: under a thin solar panel, under a thick solar panel, and uncovered. Spinach plants under solar panels consumed up to 17 per cent less water — and though their growth was slower, the plant's overall health wasn't affected. And while they grew, the plants kept the area underneath the panels cool, which improved the solar panels' efficiency.
Edmonton resident Jill Hunter was surprised to find visible blooms of blue-green algae along the shore when she arrived at Astotin Lake in Elk Island National Park on Wednesday. "This seems really early," Hunter said, after canoeing at the popular swimming and recreation area 60 kilometres northeast of Edmonton. Rolf Vinebrooke, a professor of fresh water ecology at the University of Alberta, agrees.
The Alberta Energy Regulator announced on Thursday it issued an environmental protection order for a Calgary-based oil and gas company. The order comes after a joint study from the University of Alberta and Stanford University found an industry link between in situ bitumen recovery and the earthquakes that shook the Peace River region last November.
Ice isn’t generally a welcome sight for vehicles on the road, but a mission to put one on the moon is counting on it. Canada plans to launch its first rover as early as 2026. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) describes the project as an opportunity to develop technologies for deep-space missions, and find a valuable resource to help make those happen.
Hollywood couple Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively donated $500,000 to a Canadian Indigenous clean drinking water initiative, buoying efforts by a group of University of Alberta (U of A) graduate students. The Student Advocates for Public Health (SAPH), a group of U of A grad students, hosted a media availability last week calling for clean drinking water for all Indigenous communities throughout the country. During the media availability, Randal Bell, a member of SAPH, said 43 per cent of all First Nations drinking water systems in Canada are currently labeled as medium to high risk of contamination, with 36 long-term drinking water advisories in effect as of March 14. The goal of the event was to bring awareness to the situation and Bell said seeing high-profile people step up with donations means a lot.
The level of COVID-19 indicators in Edmonton wastewater has soared well above where it was in any other wave of the pandemic but experts say it’s too soon to predict whether this wave has peaked and how bad the increased pressure from the Omicron variant could get on the province’s health-care system. According to data collected by researchers from the University of Alberta and University of Calgary, the level of COVID-19 viral RNA in wastewater at the Edmonton testing site jumped to 595.7 copies per 100 ml by Jan. 3 from 153.9 copies per 100 ml on Dec. 28. The most recent number from Jan. 12 sits at 525.7.
Mother Nature has turned Lake Manitoba into a visual art project that has an ice expert in awe. What would typically be a flat, frozen surface has been turned into something more resembling pebbles and stones, as far as the eye can see. In another area, the water has crystallized into geometric lines that look like someone spilled a box of toothpicks or needles on the ground and they froze there.
New research from the University of Alberta says the Canadian Rockies may be losing one of their most iconic features — those brilliant turquoise alpine lakes. "This summer the heat domes in Western Canada really have accelerated the rate of melting of the glaciers in the … Rockies," said professor of aquatic ecology Rolf Vinebrooke on CBC Radio's Daybreak South Tuesday. Vinebrooke explained that the lakes contain glacial flour, a sediment from rocks that slowly makes its way into the water through erosion. But as the glaciers melt at faster rates than ever before, less of the meltwater contains the rock flour, which intercepts sunlight and gives the lakes their milky turquoise luster.
Two University of Alberta scientists gave Tiny Township council a taste of the municipality's superior groundwater while asking the municipality to collaborate on a project they hope to launch next year. William Shotyk and Michael Powell were at a recent committee of the whole meeting to present the work they've done so far studying the artesian spring present in this region of Ontario. "The groundwater has below-detection limits of nitrates and phosphates," said Shotyk, professor and Bocock agriculture and the environment chair. "It's an indication of the water quality. The other perimeter is chloride.
New technology developed by engineers at the University of Alberta shows potential in cleaning and decontaminating process water from oilsands production. The process relies on ozonation and biofilters to remove organic compounds from contaminated water. The study, published in Science of the Total Environment, demonstrates that the method, previously used to clean pharmaceutical waste water, efficiently removes naphthenic acids, considered to be one of the main contaminants in oilsands process water.
