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.
Emelko co-leads forWater, a Canada-wide and internationally-partnered strategic research network focused on forest management-based approaches for drinking water source protection. The network brings together researchers, government agencies and industry professionals from different disciplines across Canada who are focused on understanding and developing response strategies to climate change threats.
Today, the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance, and the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Mayor of the City of Edmonton, announced more than $22 million in federal funding to help to reduce flood risk and damage in Edmonton. The project includes improvements that will help mitigate potential flooding hazards at the city's Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant. Three new backwater prevention outfall gates will prevent river water from flowing back into the wastewater treatment plant during storm events, and a flood barrier along the northern edge of the plant will minimize flooding risks.
New Acre Project, an initiative delivered by ALUS that supports purpose-driven organizations to fund grassroots environmental stewardship projects, announces new funding from BEF (formerly, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation). The funding will support 100 New Acre™ project acres in Alberta, Canada, powered in part by Coors Seltzer’s mission to help protect and restore Canada’s waters.
In the Canadian Prairies, wetland drainage has resulted in the loss of more than 40 percent of natural wetlands. The impacts associated with this drainage are largely unmitigated. Wetlands are key ecosystem features that provide numerous services, like water purification, that are integral to social and ecological systems. Because wetlands occur largely in depressions, they regulate stream flow by acting as reservoirs for snow and rain, and many are places where groundwater can be replenished. In the prairie climate, the presence of water lends these systems to being a crucial habitat for many organisms.
As of June 2012, there were 146 First Nations communities in Canada under a long-term Drinking Water Advisory. Drinking Water Advisories are created when the water in a community is deemed unacceptable based on the Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines which set basic parameters for clean, safe drinking water. A long-term drinking water advisory is one that has remained in place for at least one year. Some of these communities had been living under an advisory for over 20 years. First Nations communities are disproportionately affected by water quality problems as a result of longstanding water resource management issues and colonial practices of the province. The federal government has a goal to end all long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserves by March 2021. Since November 2015, 88 have been lifted, however 61 remain.
