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.
The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant began tests on Monday of newly constructed facilities for discharging treated radioactive wastewater into the sea, a plan strongly opposed by local fishing communities and neighboring countries. The tests at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant use fresh water instead of the treated water, operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said. Plant workers examined pumps and emergency shutdown equipment at the newly constructed seaside facility, which will dilute the treated water with large amounts of seawater. The diluted water then enters an undersea tunnel and is released into the ocean about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the coast.
The U.S. government is ordering railway operator Norfolk Southern to clean up contaminated soil and water at the site of a hazardous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, where officials are trying to convince wary residents their tap water is safe to drink. But the main pathway that dioxin gets into human bodies is not directly through something burning. It's through consumption of meat, dairy, fish and shellfish that have become contaminated. That contamination takes time.
The Royal Canadian Navy is providing sailors aboard Canada's new arctic patrol ships with bottled water to drink after tests showed increased levels of lead in the ships’ water systems. Water quality concerns aboard the newest fleet of artic patrol ships have revealed lead contamination in the navy ship's water system and were first detected on the HMCS Harry DeWolf.
Kinap Beach in Porters Lake is reopened for public swimming after it was recently closed because tests showed high levels of bacteria in the water. Swimming was prohibited at the beach after testing Saturday indicated high bacteria levels exceeding Health Canada guidelines. Halifax Regional Municipality said in a news release that follow-up testing showed the water is again safe, in line with Health Canada guidelines.
For many of us, drinking water from the tap, taking a shower or flushing a toilet are things that are taken for granted. However, residents of the Cheekye, or Cheakamus 11, reserve say they are sometimes left wondering when and if those necessities are available to them. Those who live on that reserve say that their water infrastructure cuts out, leaving them dry and without any means to perform basic functions. When it does work, they say, it supplies them with water they don't trust.
The city of Brossard, has lifted its boil water advisory, as tests confirm the water is safe to drink again, according to a message published on the city's website. On July 9, the municipality on Montreal's South Shore asked residents to boil their water for at least a minute before consuming it. The city said the advisory came after the discovery of fecal coliforms in the water supply. While the water is now safe, Brossard is advising residents to let the cold water flow from the taps for a few minutes before consuming it.
Several Regina community associations are pushing the City of Regina to replace lead pipes in the city as soon as possible instead of spreading the project over 15 years. City council will consider approving administration’s recommendation to go with a 15-year lead service connection replacement program during Wednesday’s council meeting. This follows city council’s unanimous decision in 2019 to commit to replacing all lead service lines within five years.
Water treatment operators in Coronach, Sask., had an unwelcome surprise Monday morning when they found the town's water treatment plant had been broken into overnight. This meant the water reservoirs that serve the 650-person town may have been contaminated. The Saskatchewan Water Security Agency has put the town under a 'do not use' advisory. This means the tap water in Coronach should not be used for anything — not drinking, not showers, not even if it's boiled — until the advisory is lifted.
Snaking beneath Regina's streets are 600 kilometres of water mains built with asbestos-cement. That's about 60 per cent of some 1,000 kilometres of the mains that deliver water to homes around the city. Increasingly, some scientists and communities are questioning the wisdom in having drinking water flowing through pipes constructed from asbestos fibres.
Eabametoong First Nation, an Ojibway community that sits about 360 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, passed a band council resolution declaring a state of emergency Friday after water test results showed levels of trihalomethanes (THMs) between 122 to 182 per cent above Health Canada safety standards.
Yesno said residents are also reporting a foul smell coming from the community's tap water.
