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.
Human waste is to blame for high levels of E. coli bacteria at First Lake in Lower Sackville, N.S., according to a report commissioned by the Halifax Regional Municipality. A popular beach on the lake was removed from the municipality's beach supervision program in 2020 because of high bacteria levels, so no lifeguards have been monitoring the swimming area and the water isn't regularly tested by the municipality.
Did you know there are more people in India with access to a cellphone than a toilet? Or that burning the world’s annual human waste output could yield the equivalent of $9.5 billion in non-renewable natural gas? Or that, every day, about 2,020 hectares of irrigated land worldwide becomes unfarmable because of salty soil? These findings, on water scarcity and environmental health, are considered groundbreaking in the scientific community. They also offer a snapshot into the extensive resumé of a Hamilton-based think-tank.
The excrement that is flushed away in Canadian toilets each day is the world's "most underrated, limitless resource,'' says the creator of a new museum exhibit that delves into one of humankind's messiest subjects. Coline Niess of the Musée de la civilisation in Quebec City says the upcoming exhibit titled "Oh Shit!'' will explore all the facets of human waste — and that it's not a laughing matter.
Microplastics contained in drinking water pose a “low” risk to human health at current levels, but more research is needed to reassure consumers, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
Studies over the past year on plastic particles detected in tap and bottled water have sparked public concerns but the limited data appears reassuring, the U.N. agency said its first report on potential health risks associated with ingestion.
