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.
A major water main break has caused Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., to declare a state of emergency as half the population — about 26,000 households, or 56,000 people — has been without running water for more than 48 hours. The city, about 40 kilometres southeast of Montreal, says water won't be back until at least end-of-day Thursday.
About $166,000 in fines were issued to Metro Vancouver residents who did not abide by restrictions put in place this summer to try to conserve water. Of the 21 municipalities, one electoral area and one Treaty First Nation that make up Metro Vancouver, more than half issued fines ranging from $100 to $500 to residents who flouted water-restriction rules put in place Aug 4.
It can be said that British Columbia is Canada’s two-season province, with West Coast living consisting of a cycle between rain and fire. Fire season has arrived and experts say it’s time to put your rainy day habits behind you. “All we can really do is adapt to more extreme drought,” said John Richardson, a professor in the department of forest and conservation sciences at the University of British Columbia. “We have to remember that same water is used for drinking, bathing, flushing, for fighting fire,” he said.
The City of Chilliwack is moving to stage 3 watering restrictions to conserve water into the fall after a discussion and vote by council Tuesday afternoon (July 19). City council approved extending the summer watering restriction period until Oct. 15, as well as instituting new triggers for implementing further restrictions. “As dry conditions continue throughout the province, there are lots of small actions we can all take to help conserve water,” said Mayor Ken Popove. “For example, you can take shorter showers, turn off the tap when you brush your teeth, only run full loads of laundry or dishes, and regularly check your home for leaks.”
The City of Nelson has reminded residents that the city is still under Stage 1 water restrictions. Here are the rules, according to a news release Tuesday. If you live at an even-number address, you can only water your lawn using a sprinkler or irrigation system on Wednesday and Saturday between 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. and between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. If you live at an odd-number address, you may only water your lawn using a sprinkler or irrigation system on Thursday and Sunday between 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. and between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Regardless of your address, you may water vegetables, flowers, trees and shrubs using a sprinkler between 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. and between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. on any day. You can water these items using a hose with a shut-off nozzle or a drip irrigation system at any time. All hoses must have an automatic hand-held shut-off device/nozzle. “Conservation is a community effort to reduce strain on the city’s drinking water supply and fire protection,” the news release states. “Working together, we can offset further restrictions.”
As the province’s drought reaches historical levels, British Columbians are being urged to do their part to conserve water. The minister of emergency management and climate readiness, Bowinn Ma, has called on residents, farmers, businesspeople and industrial plant operators to take urgent steps to cut water use. She highlighted a report from B.C.’s River Forecast Centre that said the combination of record heat in May followed by early snow melt and persistently low levels of rain have created severe drought.
The recent decision to reactivate several Vancouver-owned fountains that use millions of litres of drinking water annually is being scrutinized as B.C. officials sound the alarm about worsening drought conditions across the province. The five fountains are not capable of recirculating water, meaning that water is pumped in, used once and flushed into the sewer – something Park Board Commissioner Tom Digby considers wasteful.
British Columbians need to start taking water-saving measures now and shouldn't wait for official restrictions to be implemented, the minister of emergency management and climate readiness says. Bowinn Ma's advice comes amid a persistent dry spell across the province, with half of B.C.'s water basins currently at Level 4 drought, where Level 5 is the worst. With the lack of rain and record-breaking temperatures in some areas, B.C. is also facing a record-breaking wildfire season.
With the reservoir low, residents in Alma, N.B., are being asked to conserve water. This comes just days after the Municipality of Fundy Albert advised residents to boil their water. Fundy Albert Mayor Robert Rochon said the issue isn't a lack of water as much as an aging system that can only fill the reservoir so fast. He said the reservoir is fed by a well that can pump 50 gallons of water per minute, but the demand on the system exceeds that.
In 2020, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation stopped filling the ponds with potable water in a bid to conserve water, implementing a bylaw that requires some water features, like ponds that do not recirculate water, be switched off. Now many ponds throughout the city are drying up or have completely dried up — to the disappointment of some residents, like Seear. The park board said it is focusing instead on restarting a handful of fountains it previously closed to save water.
Luis Ramirez leapt onto the roof of his bright blue water truck to fill the plastic tank that by day’s end would empty into an assortment of buckets, barrels and cisterns in 100 homes. It was barely 11 a.m. and Ramirez had many more stops to make on the hilly, grey fringes of Tijuana, a sprawling, industrial border city in northwestern Mexico where trucks or “pipas” like Ramirez’s provide the only drinking water for many people.
The British Columbia government is urging people to save water, saying the forecast predicts drought across much of the province this summer. A statement from the Forests Ministry says recent rains have provided some relief in parts of B.C., but it hasn't been enough to make up the deficit. B.C.'s drought map shows much of the northeastern corner of the province is at drought level four on the five-level scale, meaning conditions are extremely dry, with communities and ecosystems likely to experience adverse impacts.
A late spring heat wave is prompting the Region of Waterloo to remind residents of the need to conserve water when possible as the annual water conservation bylaw takes effect. On Friday, the region said during these heatwaves it is important for residents to adhere to using outdoor water only when needed and only on their designated watering day.
The Okanagan is one of Canada’s most water-stressed regions and local organizations are hoping to take steps to conserve water in communities, which in turn allows for crops, wildlife and more to thrive across the valley. With temperatures rising and summer approaching quickly, residents are being reminded to think about one of the most important resources: water. “It’s incumbent on us to protect our water source and the biggest pillar in that is conservation and this is an effort to take those necessary steps to conservation,” said Blair Ireland, mayor of Lake Country.
Water management is becoming a hot topic as Spain gears up for regional and municipal elections this month and a national vote later in the year, as farmers and other industries vie for an increasingly scarce resource. Spain has one swimming pool for every 37 residents, and these, too, are now in the spotlight. In Vacarisses, a scattered town of more than a dozen subdivisions with views of the Montserrat mountain range, residents are bracing for another difficult summer after enduring 16-hour water cuts last year when aquifers ran dry.
A man in Arizona sees a glimpse of a potentially frightening future. A future where the planet is hotter, the soil is drier, and our most precious resource is evaporating. His job is delivering water. And his job is getting harder. John Hornewer is now having to drive hours farther each day to fill his truck, which, in turn, fills the subterranean tanks at homes in an area outside Phoenix. His normal supplier cut him off; more precisely, on Jan. 1, the city of Scottsdale, Ariz., cut off transfers to the exurban community he serves in a desire to conserve water for its own residents. He found new suppliers, farther away. Then another supplier cut him off.
As part of a commitment to sustainability and environmental action, the governments of Canada and Manitoba are committing $55,000 through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) to study the viability of providing an alternative non-potable water source for non-food processing purposes to industrial park tenants in the Rural Municipality (RM) of Portage la Prairie, federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Manitoba Agriculture Minister Derek Johnson announced today.
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.”
“You shade the plant that you're growing with a partially transparent solar cell. It provides a little microclimate underneath it, so it conserves water, and then you get more growth,” Pearce explained. Vertical or movable solar panel options allow for plants like corn or wheat to grow high or for tractors to manoeuvre around crops, Pearce added. Outside of fields, solar panels can also be attached to greenhouses roofs or potentially even floated on bodies of water.
In a blistering third year of drought, Californians have been asked to limit their indoor water usage to 55 gallons (208 litres) per person per day. It takes about 30 gallons to fill a bathtub, so forget about a deep Jacuzzi experience. Yet in the gated communities of Calabasas and Hidden Hills - exclusive enclaves in the Santa Monica Mountains above Malibu - lush lawns and filled swimming pools and koi ponds make it clear that some are ignoring the rules.
