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 U.S. company hoping to revitalize fisheries while pulling carbon dioxide out of the air and water wanted to develop its technology in Canada, but gave up after getting a reception from Canadian authorities as chilly as the North Atlantic. Instead, Running Tide is operating in Iceland, deploying a fleet of sensors in the ocean this year in collaboration with Icelandic shipping company Eimskip.
Federal delays are allowing billions of litres of wastewater to be dumped in Canadian waters including marine protected areas, an environmental group says. In a report released this week, the World Wildlife Fund said the federal government has yet to follow through on a three-year-old commitment to bring in new regulations on what waste ships can release into the oceans. It says that lack of progress is allowing ships to keep releasing bilgewater, sewage, grey water and other wastewater.
After pleading guilty to releasing harmful substances into bodies of water near its operations, a Nova Scotia mining company has been ordered to pay $250,000 to the provincial and federal governments. Atlantic Mining NS Inc., which operates as Atlantic Gold in the province, pleaded guilty earlier this month to two charges: failing to test the quality of runoff water at its Touquoy open-pit gold mine in Moose River and failing to report those findings to authorities. Initially, 32 environmental infractions were laid against the company, but that number was reduced during the plea process.
Now we’re watching how the government defines these standards and what the rules will be. For example, there’s currently no definition of what “no dumping” actually means in the context of marine protected areas, or how this commitment will be implemented and enforced. We know dumping wreaks havoc on our environment and poses a risk to wildlife and people. Greywater from sinks, kitchens, showers and washing machines aboard ships can contribute to algal blooms, create ocean dead zones and contain microplastics. Scrubber effluent, which is washwater from cleaning Heavy Fuel Oil exhaust gas, basically turns air pollution into water pollution. Sewage, both treated and untreated, from toilets, can cause fecal contamination in the shellfish we eat.
