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.
On a rock-covered beach in the heart of the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario, Alex Moonias gazes east, then north. All he sees is undisturbed land, water and air. Some 100 kilometres from where he stands, the province plans to build a road as part of its pledge to mine the area, which is said to be rich in metals needed for electric vehicle batteries.
Current Water Technologies Inc. (TSX-V: WATR) (“CWTI” or “the Company” or “the Corporation“), an emerging technology leader in the management of industrial and municipal wastewaters and drinking water resources, provides a corporate update. Since the start of January 2023, the Company has received purchase orders totalling $645,300 for custom designed and built, state-of-the-art automated storm water pumping stations to be installed in Western Canada.
BQE Water Inc. (TSX-V: BQE), a leader in the treatment and management of mine impacted waters, has entered into an Operating Services Agreement with Minto Metals Corp to provide plant operations services for an existing water treatment plant at Minto Mine located approximately 240 km northwest of Whitehorse, Yukon through to 2024. Under the agreement, BQE Water will be responsible for clean water production at the mine where the final effluent must meet stringent requirements not only for metals but ammonia, nitrite and nitrate to protect the aquatic life in the receiving environment. Included in the operations services provided by BQE Water will be on-site technical supervision, coordination with Minto's environmental and metallurgical team to maximize the volume of water discharged into the environment, operator training, and on-site and off-site engineering support.
With many residents of Woodlands County utilizing well water, the municipality hosted a virtual workshop on October 21 on managing wells. The event streamed live and enabled attendees to ask questions in real-time. Multiple specialists were on hand, including Jeff Hammer, a Public Health Inspector for Alberta Health Services. Hammer discussed the importance of testing water and why it’s essential to do so. “We have two types of tests available at the health units. One is a bacteriological bottle which we test for total Coliform and E. coli. Total Coliform is an indicator of bacteria, and E. coli is basically fecal matter which you never want to see. The other type of test we have is a chemical water sample. It does a bunch of minerals and metals and has some more health parameters associated with it.” Hammer said that some of the minerals and metals tested for include manganese, lead, arsenic, and the pH value of the water.
“We can provide access to safe, clean water where it’s lacking in third world countries,” Haughton said. “Strangely enough, we have that situation right here in our backyard in Canada, which is surprising and disappointing.” Worth $300,000, the mobile system is designed to sit inside a 10-foot shipping container. It uses natural filters to remove bacteria, metals and chemicals. It can produce 50,000 litres of water in a day, via solar energy, which is enough for 500-2,000 people, depending on the location.
Canada is famously home to 20 percent of the world’s freshwater — but how well are we stewarding this supply? WWF-Canada recently reassessed the health of our country’s 25 watersheds to better understand how they’re responding to threats from pollution, habitat loss and climate change. Our 2020 Watershed Reports found that 26 per cent of Canadas’s 167 sub-watersheds received a score of Good or Very Good, which is good or very good news! But what’s bad, or possibly very bad, is that nearly 60 per cent of these sub-watersheds received no score at all because they remain Data Deficient. In other words, we just don’t know. This lack of data is concerning as we need a complete picture to determine which areas need dedicated efforts to protect our freshwater ecosystems.
