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.
Runoff from a massive industrial fire in Etobicoke on Friday has left dead fish and ducks in a Toronto creek, the Ontario environment ministry said on Monday. Some of the ducks in Mimico Creek that have survived the runoff have been coated in an oily sludge, according to the Toronto Wildlife Centre.
Residents are concerned about the large number of dead fish found floating in the Ausable River in Port Franks, Ont., and are questioning the safety of the waterway used by boaters and swimmers. The municipality of Lambton Shores said it was alerted to issue on Saturday, with reports that hundreds of fish of various species were turning up in the marina and along the banks of the river, which flows into Lake Huron.
“We normally have algae blooms during the summertime. But what’s unusual about this one is how large it is and the fact that there are fish kills,” White said. Most algae blooms end after a week or so. But a triple-digit heat wave forecast for the holiday weekend may help the Bay Area's grow even more, White said. She said that reports of dead fish started coming in last week.
Walking around Regina's Wascana Creek can be a tranquil, meditative experience — until an offensive odour wafts into your nostrils. For several weeks a potent smell has been coming from parts of the creek — which runs out of Wascana Lake — and the water has been discoloured. The smell and colour are being caused by a buildup of organic matter, according to Kurtis Doney, director of water, waste and environment for the City of Regina.
It is disturbing to hear the genuine public concern over high-capacity wells being deliberately misinterpreted as “urban versus rural” and as an attack against farmers. The Environmental Coalition of Prince Edward Island has been working for years to usher in a new era of water protection and conservation, and never once have we opposed farmers. Farmers are important to the economic and social health of the province.
Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued hefty fines to the University of British Columbia and CIMCO Refrigeration for releasing ammonia-laden water into a tributary of the Fraser River in Vancouver. According to a written statement, UBC was fined $1.2 million and CIMCO $800,000 stemming from a complaint about an ammonia odour at an outfall ditch connected to Booming Ground Creek in Pacific Spirit Regional Park on Sept. 12, 2014. The ministry says UBC and CIMCO were fixing the refrigeration system at Thunderbird Arena at the university's Vancouver campus when they purged residual ammonia vapours from the system into a storm drain that flowed into a ditch and then the creek.
A handful of Chatham farms might hold the answer to reducing toxic algae blooms in the Great Lakes. These farms are collecting and analyzing their agricultural runoff, in hope of reducing the amount of phosphorus entering the waterways. It's part of a project, started by two organizations in Spring 2016, which aims to come up with a strategy to deal with toxic algae blooms. Out of that idea for the project — between the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative — came the Thames River Phosphorus Reduction Collaborative.
