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

University of Calgary

UCalgary awarded 2 prestigious Canada Excellence Research Chairs

UCalgary awarded 2 prestigious Canada Excellence Research Chairs

Deborah McGregor is an internationally celebrated scholar and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Environmental Justice. She joins UCalgary from York University, where she was cross-appointed to the Osgoode Hall Law School and the Faculty of Environment and Urban Change. As the CERC in Indigenous Ways of Climate and Water Sustainability for Planetary Health and Well-being, McGregor will generate understanding of, and build support for, Indigenous leadership in Earth-based reconciliation and justice, focusing on climate change as the overriding symptom of the planetary health crisis.

Monitoring Alberta's wastewater could help drug users avoid harm. Here's how.

Monitoring Alberta's wastewater could help drug users avoid harm. Here's how.

A Calgary research facility that developed the most comprehensive wastewater monitoring program in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic is setting its sights on another burgeoning public health issue: illicit drug use. Advancing Canada Water Assets (ACWA), a joint initiative between the City of Calgary and the University of Calgary, is applying the same techniques it used to monitor COVID-19 case numbers to track illicit drugs in the province's wastewater.

UCalgary shines bright as a global sustainability leader

UCalgary shines bright as a global sustainability leader

As a national leader — ranking in first place — UCalgary provides sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. The university aims to demonstrate exemplary stewardship of water quality and use. With water conservation built into the environment, landscaped areas across campus act as stormwater infiltration basins where rainwater can be retained.

Sustainability of high-mountain water sources focus of new UNESCO Chair

Sustainability of high-mountain water sources focus of new UNESCO Chair

Climate change is endangering critical mountain water sources like the Canadian Rockies snowpacks and glaciers, with potential for dire implications. To address the challenges of sustaining and managing these mountain waters, UNESCO has announced the creation of the UNESCO Chair in Mountain Water Sustainability. The chair will be hosted at the University of Calgary (UCalgary) and co-held by six international world-class water researchers, including Dr. John Pomeroy (PhD) and Dr. Corinne Schuster-Wallace (PhD) from the University of Saskatchewan (USask).  

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.

Four UCalgary faculty named Canada Research Chairs

Four UCalgary faculty named Canada Research Chairs

The Canada Research Chairs Program (CRCP) named four University of Calgary faculty members to its ranks on June 2, in recognition of their achievements and pursuit of research excellence. UCalgary is now home to 67 active Canada Research Chairs (CRCs). Three additional scholars have also had their CRCs renewed. “I’m pleased to see seven distinguished UCalgary scholars named Canada Research Chairs today,” says Dr. William Ghali, vice-president (research). “They all have ambitious research goals that will address society’s most pressing challenges. They will shape the future of their fields both through their research and their commitment to training the next generation.”

UCalgary students make positive change with Indigenous clean water initiative

UCalgary students make positive change with Indigenous clean water initiative

Former UCalgary student group and now a nationally registered non-profit organization, Water Movement organized and hosted the inaugural National Indigenous Water Operator Day (NIWOD) on March 21. NIWOD is recognized on March 21, a day before World Water Day, and acknowledges those who treat and bring clean water to Indigenous communities. Water Movement, created by UCalgary students Bita Malekian, Amrita Nag, Kondwani Asefa and Anita Malekian, was awarded third place and a prize of $7,500 at Western University’s World's Challenge Challenge (WCC) global final in 2021 after pitching their unique idea at the UCalgary WCC competition.

USask experts collaborate on international project to transform water predictions

USask experts collaborate on international project to transform water predictions

Unprecedented flooding over the past decade that has devastated hundreds of millions of people across the globe and caused billion of dollars in damage—including last year’s massive floods in British Columbia and the 2013 flood that hit Calgary—underlines the pressing need for this research. Dr. Martyn Clark (PhD), professor in the Department of Geography and Planning in the College of Arts and Science, is the team lead for USask. He will be joined by departmental colleague and Distinguished Professor Dr. John Pomeroy (PhD), along with Prof. Dr. Alain Pietroniro (PhD) of UCalgary’s Schulich School of Engineering.

There's something in the water: Edmonton's COVID-19 sewage is vast

There's something in the water: Edmonton's COVID-19 sewage is vast

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.

How to treat E. coli infections that cause kidney failure in children to be studied in Calgary

How to treat E. coli infections that cause kidney failure in children to be studied in Calgary

A University of Calgary researcher will lead a North American study examining a new way to treat E. coli infections that can cause kidney failure in children. The university says the U.S.-based National Institutes of Health is providing more than $11 million for the investigation, meant to stop disease from progressing from bloody diarrhea to kidney shutdown and neurologic complications. The University of Calgary says Alberta has one of the highest rates of STEC infection in the world given its abundance of cattle, sloped terrain, food crops and use of well water.

University of Calgary students urge 'Yes' vote on fluoridation in fall election

University of Calgary students urge 'Yes' vote on fluoridation in fall election

Some University of Calgary students are urging other students to vote in favour of restoring fluoride in the city's drinking water in this fall's election. Fluoride naturally occurs in some foods and is found in the Bow and Elbow Rivers at a concentration between 0.1 and 0.4 mg/L. Health Canada recommends water be fluoridated to a level of 0.7 mg/L to prevent tooth decay.

Calgary children’s dental health getting worse without community water fluoridation

Calgary children’s dental health getting worse without community water fluoridation

Calgary children have been without fluoride in their drinking water since 2011 and their dental health is suffering, according to findings from a University of Calgary study. It compares the dental health of children in Calgary to children in Edmonton, where the municipal water supply is fluoridated. Of the approximately 2,600 Grade 2 students in each city who took part in the study, 55.1 per cent of Edmonton participants had one or more cavities in their baby teeth. In comparison, the number was 64.8 per cent of Calgary children.

Your poop could be used to track COVID-19 outbreaks, says U of C researchers

Your poop could be used to track COVID-19 outbreaks, says U of C researchers

One man's waste is another man's treasure. In this case, the waste is the kind produced by people and researchers at the University of Calgary say a pilot project testing the city's water is providing a valuable tool in the fight against COVID-19. "It's similar to how detectives look for DNA evidence at a crime scene. We're looking for the RNA signal that the virus that causes COVID leaves behind in the wastewater," said Kevin Frankowski, co-leader of the COVID-19 wastewater monitoring project at the university's Cumming School of Medicine.

Alberta relaxed far more environmental rules than any other government in Canada during pandemic, study finds

Alberta relaxed far more environmental rules than any other government in Canada during pandemic, study finds

Alberta relaxed more environmental rules in response to the COVID-19 pandemic than any other government in Canada, says a study from the University of Calgary. "I didn't find any other jurisdiction that went as far as Alberta did," said Victoria Goodday, a researcher at the university's School of Public Policy. "The degree of rollbacks, they were most significant in Alberta." Goodday noticed that after the pandemic hit last spring, governments across Canada began loosening environmental restrictions.

Water wisdom on tap with new data-sharing platform

Water wisdom on tap with new data-sharing platform

In the same way that rivulets, rain, streams and snowmelt flow together to create a watershed, a new digital platform initiative led by UCalgary in collaboration with IBM pools together data from multiple sources — sensors, scientists, and citizens — to create an accessible information reservoir that will support improved watershed science, policy and management across Canada.

Ready to vote again on water fluoridation? Calgary to hold 7th plebiscite on issue

Ready to vote again on water fluoridation? Calgary to hold 7th plebiscite on issue

Calgary will hold yet another plebiscite on whether to restore fluoride to the city's drinking water this fall. Council voted 10-4 in favour of allowing the electors to decide the issue on Monday. It will be put to the public during the 2021 municipal election in October. Council chose to stop adding fluoride to its water supply in 2011, against the opinion of Calgarians who had voted in favour of fluoridation in 1998 and 1989 plebiscites. The city has held plebiscites on the issue dating back to the 1950s.

Former Neskantaga contractor accused of cutting corners in other First Nations

Former Neskantaga contractor accused of cutting corners in other First Nations

“They cut corners every day, every day,” said Justin Gee, vice-president of First Nations Engineering Services Ltd. Gee said he encountered these recurring problems while overseeing the work of a construction firm, Kingdom Construction Limited (KCL), building a water treatment plant 10 years ago in Wasauksing First Nation, along the eastern shore of Georgian Bay, about 250 kilometres north of Toronto. “You have to be on them every step of the way,” said Gee, who was the contract administrator on the project. “You can’t leave them on their own.”

How liquid salt could be the answer to oilsands tailings ponds

How liquid salt could be the answer to oilsands tailings ponds

Wastewater from oilsands mining operations have long been a challenge for Canada's energy industry, much of it ending up in industrial tailings ponds. But scientists and engineers at the University of Calgary are taking aim at eliminating watery tailings from the oilsands production process with the help of specialized liquid salt. Hot water is used in oilsands mining operations to extract the oily bitumen from the sand, with the resulting wastewater ending up in tailings ponds to settle and later be reused. Alberta has an estimated 1.3 trillion litres of fluid tailings sitting in tailings ponds. 

How UCalgary experts help keep Canada's water safe and sustainable

How UCalgary experts help keep Canada's water safe and sustainable

In Canada, we are fortunate to have an ample supply of water; in fact, some statistics suggest we hold within our borders 20% of the world’s freshwater.  And while our issues are not the same as those who struggle to find the resource. We are still challenged to ensure that everyone has access to a sustainable and safe water supply.

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