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.
Some Charlottetown businesses say they didn't get enough warning their water would be shut off for much of the day Tuesday. On Monday, the city issued a notice saying the Water and Sewer Utility would be conducting repairs to a leaking water valve near Grafton and Rochford streets. The notice stated customers in the area would be without water from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. AT on Tuesday. The outage was later extended to 5:30 p.m.
The Province is investing almost $2 million in water and wastewater infrastructure upgrades that will help the Town of Antigonish and the Municipality of the County of Antigonish prepare for future growth. Our municipalities depend on modern infrastructure to be competitive and attract new residents to their communities,” said Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister John Lohr. “By making these investments, we will improve the efficiency of the water and wastewater systems, ensuring residents and businesses have the services they expect and depend on every day and laying the foundation for continued growth for years to come.”
The Town of Okotoks’ Water Smart Business Grant program is back for its second year and gives the business sector a chance to apply for thousands of dollars in grant money for implementing projects that conserve water. Businesses and institutions can apply to receive funding of up to $10,000 for each eligible project. “It’s a win-win situation — the Town is supporting local businesses through covering the investment costs, while businesses will ultimately see savings on their utility bills from the water they save in the long-term,” said Mayor Tanya Thorn. “This grant provides a substantial incentive and plenty of flexibility that makes it worthwhile applying for.”
Forward Water Technologies (TSXV:FWTC)) helps in the reduction of environmental impact of lithium mining companies and other industries through innovative wastewater treatment technology that enables industrial operations to reduce liquid waste volume by up to 95 percent. Transformative wastewater technologies are critical for both businesses and the world’s population. In fact, unless sufficient progress is achieved, UNICEF and WHO estimate that 1.6 billion people will be without access to safe drinking water by 2030, and 2.8 billion will be without access to safe sanitation and hygiene. Water treatment technologies can disrupt current trends and improve global access to safe drinking water.
There’s more fallout from the unseasonably warm and dry weather that’s been gripping B.C.’s Lower Mainland. Metro Vancouver is asking residents and businesses to cut back on how much water they use amid ongoing drought conditions. Officials are keeping a close eye on the region's three water supplies, the Capilano, Seymour, and Coquitlam reservoirs.
A water shortage in Nunavut has prompted the region's territorial government to declare a state of emergency, leading experts to re-evaluate water infrastructure in areas they say lack necessary funding. "Families are frustrated. Businesses are frustrated," MP Lori Idlout told CTV News Channel. "Water is such an essential human right." Iqaluit, which reported a water shortage last week, is now working on getting regulatory approval to pump in water from a nearby lake.
Sandy Roman calls her work "the best job in the whole world," but lately, she's been facing a world of frustration. Roman owns Sandy's Chipstand, a snack shack in Patricia Beach Provincial Park, along the east side of Lake Winnipeg, which is seeing its worst flooding since Manitoba Hydro started regulating levels in 1976. "It's a little difficult. It's a little difficult for sure. You just don't know when you wake up in the morning, am I going to work today? Are people are going to get fries?" she told CBC Information Radio host Marcy Markusa on Friday.
The Grand River Conservation Authority is urging people and businesses along the watershed to drop their water usage by 20 per cent. This week, the low water response team placed the entire watershed at level two. It means the authority is asking all water users — municipalities, aggregate operations, golf courses, water bottlers, farms for irrigation and private users — to decrease the amount of water they use. The last time a level two was declared for the entire watershed was 2016.
On Earth Day (April 22), Living Lakes Canada welcomed the Province of B.C.’s commitment of $30 million for projects that will strengthen B.C.’s watershed security. This is a timely announcement given the 2022 Earth Day theme is “Investing in our Planet.” This new funding is an essential step towards the creation of a long-term B.C. Watershed Security Fund, a provincial government commitment that has broad support from Indigenous Nations, local governments, community organizations and businesses.
Just off the TransCanada Highway in Abbotsford, B.C., dozens of businesses and hundreds of homes were destroyed in the devastating flooding from late last year and have not yet received any financial assistance. At the peak of the emergency, nearly 15,000 people fled their homes as floodwaters shut down major highways and destroyed vast farmland. “You know everybody’s got similar stories, traumatic stories,” Arthur Deleeuw, a victim of the floods, told CTV National News.
Homeowners, farmers and businesses in and around the southern Manitoba town of Morden are working to adapt to extreme drought conditions brought on by intense heat and a lack of precipitation in recent months. And while it might be an eyebrow-raising sight to see watering still going on at the Minnewasta Golf and Country Club, the club says it's worked up a plan to funnel thousands of litres of town wastewater to the course, allowing it to keep watering tee boxes and greens and not Lake Minnewasta, where drinking water comes from.
The boil water advisory in Sachs Harbour, N.W.T., has been lifted, according to a Monday news release. The boil water advisory had been put into effect in early June due to higher than normal turbidity levels (muddy water). The levels have since dropped to "acceptable levels" in treated water from the water plant and "all issues" have been corrected. There have been no illnesses associated with drinking water reported in the community, the release says. The normal use of drinking water can resume.
Despite the apparent abundance of water in Canada, she said, low prices mean the best-quality water in many regions — such as Southern Ontario groundwater — is in increasingly short supply and is being overused. Roy Brouwer, executive director of the Water Institute at the University of Waterloo, said that when he came to Canada from the Netherlands five years ago, he was surprised by the low price and wasteful misuse of water in this country.
Students plan to launch a second letter-writing campaign in the new year addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller calling for clean running water for First Nations communities. The letter campaign is called "We haven't forgotten you," said Frank Pio, the school board's Indigenous education teacher. "It's really unfair that they don't get safe water to drink," Comazzi said.
A decision on how to proceed with water bottling permits is expected by early to mid-December, with a review nearly complete, Ontario's Environment Minister Jeff Yurek said Thursday. A moratorium on new and expanded permits to take water for bottling, which was put in place by the former Liberal government in 2017, and was extended last year by the Progressive Conservatives, is set to expire on Jan. 1. Yurek said his decision will be based in science, though if the government can't find a "conclusive way to go forward" he would extend the moratorium again.
Climate change is a deciding factor in record high water levels in the Great Lakes being higher than ever before, a University of Waterloo professor told CTV’s Your Morning on Wednesday. According to government statistics, July water levels for the bodies of water between Canada and the U.S. were at record highs. And this can lead to faster erosion of the coastline and flooding. The flooding this spring and summer along the northern shores of Lake Ontario, the Toronto Islands and some Toronto-area beaches has been particularly troublesome for homeowners and businesses.
Rising water levels in the St. Lawrence Seaway could cost the economy more than $1 billion, shippers and port operators say. A new study from the Chamber of Marine Commerce warns that opening the floodgates further at a dam in Cornwall, Ont., would wash away between $1 billion and $1.75 billion in revenue for businesses on both sides of the border. A board of control recently increased the flow at the Moses Saunders Dam — the only control point on the St. Lawrence Seaway, which includes the Great Lakes — to allow 10,400 cubic metres of water per second out of Lake Ontario.
The creator of the Blue W program is encouraging more P.E.I. businesses and public buildings to offer free tap water, in part to reduce the use of plastic water bottles. The Blue W program uses an interactive map to indicate locations where people can fill their reusable bottle without feeling compelled to make additional purchases.
The public gallery at Iqaluit city hall was packed for Thursday night's public consultation on a bylaw that governs the city's water supply and sewer service. However, with increasing water restrictions due to low levels in the city's water supply from Lake Geraldine, people came out en masse to talk about water usage in general.
