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.
An aquatic invasive species has been discovered at a lake in Riding Mountain National Park, according to Parks Canada. This month, preliminary test results from water samples collected at Boat Cove in Clear Lake throughout the summer suggested the presence of zebra mussels, a spokesperson for Parks Canada told CBC News on Monday.
After dealing with putrid-smelling water for around three weeks, a group of residents in Puslinch, Ont. may soon get some answers on what’s causing it. In an email to CTV News, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks said ministry staff inspected the area on July 11 and took samples from private wells at three different locations.
Saint John has been temporarily removed from the national COVID-19 wastewater surveillance dashboard over concerns about the accuracy of its data. Public Health Agency of Canada officials believe "the sampling point and treatment of the sample prior to testing was the origin of the test variance," said spokesperson Anna Maddison. This suggests "the reported values are not reflective of the community burden," said spokesperson Nicholas Janveau.
Nearly a month after the incident was first reported, Imperial Oil has confirmed that the produced water line that spilled in Norman Wells, N.W.T. is underneath the Mackenzie River. Cabin Radio first reported the leak's location. Imperial Oil said the cause of the leak is still being determined and that results from water sampling indicate there is no risk to public health or freshwater aquatic life downstream. In early August, residents in Fort Good Hope reported a fuel-like sheen and other surface contaminants spotted on the surface of the Mackenzie River.
The Department of National Defence continues to investigate the discovery of harmful chemicals in the area of CFD Mountainview in Prince Edward County. The DND has been working since spring of 2021 to address the issue after per- and polyfluoroalkylated substances (PFAS) and benzene were discovered near the landfill at the detachment. The PFAS on the property are thought to mostly be related to the past use of firefighting foams for training while the benzene may be the result of past fuel use storage practices.
The Nunavut government has confirmed that traces of fuel have been found in Iqaluit's water supply, again. Danarae Sommerville, a spokesperson for the territory's Department of Health, stated in a media release that there "were levels of fuel oil that entered the system." However, the release adds that levels are below Health Canada's drinking water values. Even so, a do-not-consume order has not been issued.
Water quality sampling is an arduous task – exponentially so for remote areas, where difficulties in physical accessibility can lead to years- or decades-long gaps in data. This, in turn, leads to inefficiencies, delays and mistakes in remedying problems with water quality. Now, a team led by Penn State researchers has developed a new, AI-powered model to predict water quality in such remote regions using weather data.
On Oct. 20, 2018 the citizens of the Cowichan Valley voted for establishing the Drinking Water and Watershed Protection Service Establishment Bylaw (#4202). We thought that this bylaw would be used to protect our water supplies. It has been known for many years that the wells at three commercial establishments on Fisher Road, Cobble Hill had nitrate levels greatly exceeding the Health Canada Drinking Water Guidelines. These wells and surrounding CVRD monitoring wells have been monitored by a number of agencies, including the CVRD, in the past. The Cobble Hill Aquifer Interagency Task Group (CHAITG) was established to deal with this nitrate contamination and this Task Group commissioned Western Water Associates Ltd. (WWAL) to carry out a review of past studies. Surprisingly, this review did not review aquifer nitrite levels, only nitrate levels. Nitrite is a bigger concern than nitrate since nitrite can convert the oxygen-carrying hemoglobin to methemoglobin which does not carry oxygen. Thus, nitrite can cause tissue oxygen deficiency which is particularly problematical for infants and children since it can stunt their mental and physical growth.
