Nicole Hancock
Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony ...

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.

Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony to heal Chedoke Creek

heavy metals

Water on the agenda

Water on the agenda

Two water-related notice of motions are slated to come before Chatham-Kent council for discussion and voting May 29. At a recent planning meeting, South Kent Coun. Ryan Doyle announced he is bringing forward a motion on the Aqua City inflatable play park proposed for Erieau beach. The motion involves approvals on storage facilities for Aqua City on municipal land, profit sharing with the Erieau community, as well as the federal and provincial parameters that must be met. As well, North Kent Coun. Rhonda Jubenville is bringing forward a motion to encourage the municipality to revisit the water wells issue in Dover and the former Chatham Township, coming on the heels of recent independent well testing that found heavy metals in the sediment that may be bio-accessible to humans and harmful to health.

Changing how we use, consume water

Changing how we use, consume water

Our most valuable resource is water, which we frequently take for granted. World Water Day is observed on March 22, and this year’s message is about change; it encourages us to change how we use, consume and manage water in our daily lives. There are several steps that homeowners can take to ensure their water is safe for their homes and consumption. I always recommend homeowners get their water tested, no matter where they live, but particularly outside urban centres or if they rely on a well source.

Canada confirms protections for some marine areas but shipping pollution isn’t included

Canada confirms protections for some marine areas but shipping pollution isn’t included

Canada formalized its minimum protection standards for marine protected areas on Wednesday at a global ocean conservation summit in Vancouver. Oil and gas activity, mining, the dumping of certain waste materials and destructive bottom trawling fishing won’t be allowed in any MPAs established from April 2019 and onward, said federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray and Steven Guilbeault, minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada, during a press conference at the IMPAC5 summit.

Influence of point-of-use dispensers on lead level assessment in drinking water of a lead pipe-free campus

Influence of point-of-use dispensers on lead level assessment in drinking water of a lead pipe-free campus

Point-of-use (POU) dispensers, referring to those directly connected to the water supply lines, are widely used in public facilities such as schools and universities in Taiwan. These dispensers are equipped with filters that can remove contaminants, including heavy metals in drinking water. Assessment of water lead (Pb) levels rely heavily on sampling surveys that involve various sampling protocols. This study evaluated the effects of using first draw (FD), flush (FL) incorporating at least 20 s of flushing, and random daytime (RDT) sampling protocols on Pb level assessment in water samples collected from faucets and POU dispensers of a Pb pipe-free campus between March 2017 and July 2020. This was the first study to examine the influence of POU dispensers on different sampling protocols and their survey results. Pb levels in 19% of faucet and 11% of dispenser samples exceeded the Taiwan EPA standard of 10 μg/L. FL sampling produced the lowest Pb levels, followed by RDT and FD in the samples collected from faucets. Interestingly, all three sampling protocols exhibited similar Pb levels in samples collected from dispensers. Thus, any of the three sampling protocols can be employed to monitor Pb levels in water samples collected from dispensers.

'It's the most important job': New water operators course comes to Indigenous communities

'It's the most important job': New water operators course comes to Indigenous communities

The Parkland College, Yorkton Tribal Council and Indigenous Services Canada have teamed together to bring a water and wastewater operators course to Indigenous communities. The 19-week course is called, Intro to Water Operators. The course is aimed to provide foundational training in the field of water treatment. It’s a hybrid of both in-person math classes and online classes taught by ATAP Infrastructure Management Ltd., which specializes in water treatment courses.

Better Management of Urban Runoff Needed To Protect Water Systems

Better Management of Urban Runoff Needed To Protect Water Systems

We know the lakes and rivers in and around urban environments are contaminated by plastic debris, detergents, pesticides, heavy metals and other contaminants, but new research is showing that urban runoff toxicity is ill-defined and potentially underestimated globally. Researchers including Nathalie Tufenkji, Professor of Chemical Engineering at McGill University and Canada Research Chair in Biocolloids and Surfaces, are calling for cities to better manage and treat urban runoff to protect sources of drinking water and reduce the impacts on aquatic ecosystems.

What’s in the water? USask grad student investigates environmental threat of contaminants in Saskatoon stormwater

What’s in the water? USask grad student investigates environmental threat of contaminants in Saskatoon stormwater

University of Saskatchewan (USask) College of Engineering graduate student Hayley Popick and her research team are investigating how contaminants generated from the City of Saskatoon may be affecting the water supply and ecosystems of the South Saskatchewan River. “Stormwater can be as polluted as untreated wastewater or sewage when it enters our natural water bodies,” said Popick.

World Water Day 2021 highlights dire predictions of growing scarcity

World Water Day 2021 highlights dire predictions of growing scarcity

About four billion people experience severe water shortages for at least one month a year, and around 1.6 billion — almost a quarter of the world's population — have problems accessing a clean, safe water supply, according to the United Nations. While the UN's sustainable development goals call for water and sanitation for all by 2030, the international organization says scarcity is increasing and more than half the people on Earth will be living in water-stressed regions by 2050.

Dirty, cheap marine fuel ban will affect Canada's Arctic

Dirty, cheap marine fuel ban will affect Canada's Arctic

New rules cracking down on pollution from dirty, cheap marine fuel kicked into gear this week, placing stricter requirements on cargo vessels and cruise ships that are plying northern waters thanks to climate change. As of Jan. 1, Canada is enforcing a new UN-backed cap on the amount of sulphur allowed in heavy fuel oil (HFO) in the waters north of the 60th parallel, federal officials confirmed to National Observer on Thursday. The cap comes as Transport Canada considers a proposal to ban all HFO for ships operating in the Arctic, to address the environmental risks of oil spills.

How liquid salt could be the answer to oilsands tailings ponds

How liquid salt could be the answer to oilsands tailings ponds

Wastewater from oilsands mining operations have long been a challenge for Canada's energy industry, much of it ending up in industrial tailings ponds. But scientists and engineers at the University of Calgary are taking aim at eliminating watery tailings from the oilsands production process with the help of specialized liquid salt. Hot water is used in oilsands mining operations to extract the oily bitumen from the sand, with the resulting wastewater ending up in tailings ponds to settle and later be reused. Alberta has an estimated 1.3 trillion litres of fluid tailings sitting in tailings ponds. 

New technique could help decontaminate oilsands process water

New technique could help decontaminate oilsands process water

New technology developed by engineers at the University of Alberta shows potential in cleaning and decontaminating process water from oilsands production. The process relies on ozonation and biofilters to remove organic compounds from contaminated water. The study, published in Science of the Total Environment, demonstrates that the method, previously used to clean pharmaceutical waste water, efficiently removes naphthenic acids, considered to be one of the main contaminants in oilsands process water.

Untreated sewage pollutes water across the country

Untreated sewage pollutes water across the country

Nearly 120 million cubic metres of untreated sewage and runoff entered Canadian waterways in 2016, StarMetro has learned.
That’s roughly the same amount of water that roars over the edge of Niagara Falls over the course of 12 hours — except it’s not whitewater spewing from these pipes. It’s murky, brown and a little bit chunky.

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