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.
It was widely believed that cyanobacteria wasn't in lakes far north in Saskatchewan because the water was too cold, but a Grade 11 student at the Clearwater River Dene School is disproving those theories. Ava Haynes' research on cyanobacteria — also known as blue-green algae — in lakes near her home community in northwestern Saskatchewan earned her a Bronze Excellence Award at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Edmonton last month.
A student from Canada has received the prestigious 2022 Stockholm Junior Water Prize for her research on how to treat and prevent harmful algae blooms. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, the official patron of the prize, announced the winner during a ceremony at World Water Week in Stockholm. World Water Week is a conference on global water issues, which started on August 23, 2022 and will go on till September 1.
Research showed her that plants have impressive water purifying properties, so Lee began searching fresh water bodies around Greater Victoria for an algae that would meet her requirements. At Swan Lake, she found what she was looking for – Azolla filiculoides is an invasive macroalgae known to exist in fresh water bodies around the world and to have absorbing and purifying properties. A study conducted in Iran in 2014 showed the algae could yield up to 58,700 litres of oil per hectare, or about 23,765 litres per acre. The oil can then be used in a biodiesel blend.
