A potato wash plant in Travellers Rest is cleaning up its act, and the pressure is on after the province issued a directive letter in mid-January. P.E.I. Potato Solutions is getting ready to open a new, larger facility next month, said co-owner Austin Roberts. Neighbours have made numerous complaints to the provincial Department of Environment as well as Environment Canada regarding the plant’s practices over the years. On Dec. 26, a heavy rainfall, combined with other factors, caused a holding pond containing organic waste from the plant to discharge into the environment.
Upstream wildfires could contaminate Calgary's drinking water — so the city's planning ahead
Wildfire season is getting longer in Alberta every year with climate change, scorching land and polluting the air with thick smoke. But, the City of Calgary is studying another, perhaps less obvious, impact of wildfires — drinking water contamination. There haven't been any major fires in the Bow and Elbow river watersheds, upstream of the City of Calgary, for years. But, there are fears a major fire west of the city could wash burned material into the rivers, impacting the drinking water supply for the city's 1.4 million residents.