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.
The Northwest Territories Power Corporation has been using more than seven times the usual amount of diesel to generate electricity in the North Slave as low water levels impede its hydroelectric dam system. The Snare hydro system is a series of four hydro plants that provide power to Yellowknife, Behchokǫ̀ and Dettah. The system usually generates about 98 per cent of all the electricity needed to power those communities, but this year — it's been a different story.
The Nunatsiavut government says it's testing water and fish samples after a fuel spill in the Nain harbour as the local Inuit government is calling for accountability. The Canadian Coast Guard said it received a report that on Aug. 19, the MV Keewatin was transferring fuel aboard near the main dock when diesel spilled into the Labrador Sea. The coast guard said a boom and other material was released to try to contain the spill.
A family of five in Howie Centre, N.S., has gone for months without clean water in their Cape Breton home after their well was contaminated by heating oil. They say officials from Nova Scotia's Environment Department confirmed a spill occurred on a neighbour's property earlier this year, but so far, little is being done about it and there are fears the oil has now spread to the nearby Sydney River.
Crews are assessing the waters off San Juan Island in the Salish Sea near Vancouver Island after a fishing boat sank and leaked fuel on Saturday. The Aleutian Isle had nearly 9,840 litres of oil and diesel on board when it went down off the west coast of San Juan Island in Washington state. Gerald Graham, a Victoria-based consultant who specializes in marine oil spill response and prevention, said the diesel fuel flowing from the boat is very light, which means crews can't use booms or skimmers to clean it up.
An unknown amount of petrochemicals spilled into the St. Clair River from a refinery in Canada during heavy rainfall Wednesday night. An overflow in Suncor’s Sarnia refinery’s internal sewer system left a sheen on the river that caused officials on both sides of the international border to close off drinking water intakes. But Canadian authorities cleared water plants to return to normal activity Thursday morning.
Graphs released last week that show what has contaminated Iqaluit’s drinking water don’t include enough information to be useful, say two University of Toronto professors. Nunavut’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Michael Patterson, presented and interpreted the graphs at an Oct. 22 news conference. They are missing key information, including labelling and actual concentrations for each compound detected, said Miriam Diamond, a professor of earth sciences at the University of Toronto. Diamond is one of two experts Nunatsiaq News asked to help interpret how the data were presented in the graphs.
The results of water quality testing in Iqaluit showed "exceedingly high concentrations of various fuel components" in one of the city's water tanks, the city's chief administrative officer said Friday at a news conference, as residents learned their water supply will remain undrinkable until at least mid-next week. While officials said the water could contain diesel or kerosene the territory's top doctor doesn't see long-term health concerns for those who drank the water.
