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.
Although it isn't quite summer yet, blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, is already showing up in New Brunswick waterways. Meghann Bruce, a researcher and instructor with the University of New Brunswick Canadian Rivers Institute, said as soon as the ice went out in early May, there was a "bloom" in Blue Bell Lake near Grand Falls.
With just weeks left until Mr Ducey leaves office, work crews operating along Arizona's eastern border with Mexico have been making progress on the barrier, which consists of double-stacked shipping containers and razor wire. That progress has recently been slowed by days of protests from environmental groups, who say that the barrier poses a danger to native species and natural water systems in the region.
The city of Pointe-Claire issued a statement to local residents Wednesday, saying the “earthy” taste and unusual odour emitted by their tap water is due to the increased presence of algae in the St. Lawrence River and does not represent a danger to the public’s health. Noting that “a slightly different odour and taste might be noticed in the drinking water coming from the city of Montreal’s Pointe-Claire water production plant,” the municipality explained that such situations occur “during summer and fall and are due to algae in the river.”
Canada's largest national park is now so threatened by upstream development and divided governance that it likely meets the criteria to be placed on the list of World Heritage sites in danger. UNESCO released the draft finding on Alberta's Wood Buffalo National Park this week. The agency has been concerned about the park— the world's second-largest freshwater delta — since 2017, when it found 15 of 17 of the parks' ecological benchmarks were deteriorating.
