Nicole Hancock
Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony ...

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.

Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony to heal Chedoke Creek

waste water

Japan inches forward on plan to release radioactive water into the sea

Japan inches forward on plan to release radioactive water into the sea

During their two-day visit, which was closed to the media, officials from the Japanese government and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, showed the 21-member delegation facilities related to treatment, safety checks, transport and dilution of the waste water. The plan has faced fierce protests from local fishing communities concerned about safety and reputational damage. Neighboring countries, including South Korea, China and Pacific Island nations, have also raised safety concerns.

EU urges more checks for COVID variants given surge in China

EU urges more checks for COVID variants given surge in China

The European Union should consider immediately scaling up genomic sequencing of COVID-19 infections and monitoring of waste water, including from airports, to detect any new variants given the virus surge in China, the bloc's health chief said. In a letter to health ministers of the EU's 27 members, Stella Kyriakides said the bloc should be "very vigilant" as China lifted travel restrictions on Jan. 8 as reliable epidemiological and testing data for China were quite scarce.

University of Lethbridge researchers to look at waste water in Little Bow watershed

University of Lethbridge researchers to look at waste water in Little Bow watershed

University of Lethbridge researchers will study the Frank Lake wetlands in High river to better understand the impacts of land use on the health of the Little Bow watershed. The project is funded by Cargill Limited and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Alliance program. With total funds of $1.5 million, the team will embark on a five-year project.

Your poop could be used to track COVID-19 outbreaks, says U of C researchers

Your poop could be used to track COVID-19 outbreaks, says U of C researchers

One man's waste is another man's treasure. In this case, the waste is the kind produced by people and researchers at the University of Calgary say a pilot project testing the city's water is providing a valuable tool in the fight against COVID-19. "It's similar to how detectives look for DNA evidence at a crime scene. We're looking for the RNA signal that the virus that causes COVID leaves behind in the wastewater," said Kevin Frankowski, co-leader of the COVID-19 wastewater monitoring project at the university's Cumming School of Medicine.

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