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.
I put seven of Canada's bottled water brands to the test to uncover the real composition of their contents. Although it's generally safe to consume bottled water in our nation, I wanted to dig deeper. The question is not just about safety, but about which brands offer the best quality, and which ones you might be better off avoiding. I opted for some of the most popular brands including Flow, Nestlé Pure Life, Smartwater, Aquafina, Naya, Dasani and Eska.
This week we celebrated World Water Day (March 22), which addresses water scarcity, sanitation needs, and access to clean water globally, so it only makes sense that this week’s column is about, you guessed it: Water. Many factors affect water quality, like acidity (pH balance), dissolved solids, gases like radon, hardness, and sediment. We can’t control all these factors, but homeowners can introduce systems that will enhance the water quality you use and consume and thus improve the quality of your life.
A group dedicated to protecting Canada’s freshwater is looking for citizen scientists to keep an eye on Lake Erie. The Canadian Freshwater Alliance is seeking 40 volunteers to become a Lake Erie Guardian who will test samples from the lake’s watershed. Testing will be done once a month from April to October with kits provided by Water Rangers, a non-profit group that records and analyzes water data. “Partnering with Water Rangers is new in terms of this initiative,” said Raj Gill, who oversees programs for the Great Lakes on behalf of the Alliance. “This is big growth for us.”
People in six west Saint John neighbourhoods could have new drinking water in two weeks. Those areas; Randolph, Milford, Fundy Heights, Lower West, Duck Cove and Sand Cove, will be disconnected from the current groundwater well system and switched to treated water from the Loch Lomond Lakes on the city's east side as early as Feb. 12. City water commissioner Brent McGovern said there will be a changeover period of as much as two weeks during which water from both sources will be in the system.
Over the last few years, WWF Canada conducted research that showed information on the health of Canada's water was lacking across the country. "We found that 65 per cent of our watersheds didn't have enough data available to understand the health of them," said Heather Crochetiere, senior fresh water specialist at WWF Canada.
