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 Liberal government tabled much-anticipated legislation Monday that aims to improve water quality in First Nations communities, improve collaboration on water protection and codify a new First Nations-led commission. The long-promised bill, which Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu is touting as the result of immense collaboration and knowledge-sharing, would apply a new framework for source water, drinking water, wastewater and related infrastructure on First Nations land.
A new American study has confirmed southeastern British Columbia coal mines are contaminating waters shared by Canada and the U.S., adding the miner’s attempts to remove selenium from wastewater aren’t making much difference to the amount flowing south. “It’s making a small dent,” said Meryl Storb of the United States Geological Survey, lead author of the newly published study.
A Calgary research facility that developed the most comprehensive wastewater monitoring program in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic is setting its sights on another burgeoning public health issue: illicit drug use. Advancing Canada Water Assets (ACWA), a joint initiative between the City of Calgary and the University of Calgary, is applying the same techniques it used to monitor COVID-19 case numbers to track illicit drugs in the province's wastewater.
A joint investment of more than $1.7 million dollars to support two green projects in Saskatchewan has been announced. According to a release, Dan Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs, PrairiesCan and CanNor on behalf of Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities and Saskatchewan’s Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Laura Ross new funding will support upgrades to the Danielson Provincial Park sewage lagoon to ensure it complies with regulatory requirements.
The project will include the construction of a raw-water line to treat groundwater in Osoyoos, which is not currently treated and is high in manganese. The province said these upgrades will allow the water to be properly disinfected with chlorine and ultraviolet systems. The upgrades are expected to meet the Guidelines of Canadian Drinking Water Quality and Interior Health’s drinking water standards.
The Water Use Efficiency stream provides funding for projects that help reduce the amount of water used by agri-processors in production and sanitation processes, treatment of wastewater prior to being disposed or returned to the municipal system or to the recovery of nutrients from wastewater. This funding aligns with the Manitoba government’s Water Management Strategy, which guides future actions, decisions and investments to protect the province’s water resources and ecosystems while sustainably growing the economy and communities. Funding is available for up to 50 per cent of the project cost, up to a maximum of $250,000 per project.
BQE Water Inc. (TSXV: BQE), a leader in the treatment and management of mine impacted waters, is extremely honoured to be the recipient of two awards from the Metallurgy and Materials Society (MetSoc) – the 2023 MetSoc Innovation Award to the company for its development of the groundbreaking Selen-IX™ technology for selenium removal from wastewater and the 2023 MetSoc Sustainability Award to President & CEO David Kratochvil for his significant contribution towards addressing critical water challenges in mining, including leadership in developing Selen-IX™.
Although the COVID-19 spread is no longer an ongoing pandemic in the eyes of the World Health Organization, the federal government will still be monitoring potential spread rates through waste water. Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos announced that the Public Health Agency of Canada is partnering with the Canadian Water Network to monitor Canadian wastewater. Duclos said in a statement how this national wastewater surveillance program will help keep Canadians healthy through guidance materials and wastewater data.
Stormwater Master Plan (Phase 2) Public Information Centre #2 Wednesday, June 14th, 2023 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm Libro Community Centre, Woodslee Water and Wastewater Master Plan Public Information Centre Wednesday, June 28th, 2023 from 5:30pm to 8:00pm Atlas Tube Recreation Centre (Renaud Room) These events will also feature a Flood Aware education booth featuring staff who can answer flooding questions and share resources on Lakeshore’s Flood Mitigation and Protection Framework (FMPF) and subsidy programs.
The Diavik Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories says 450 million litres of wastewater spilled due to a broken pipeline. The spill took place on Feb. 7 but wasn't reported to the Northwest Territories government until late last week. The territorial government says pipeline operators did not initially believe it needed to be reported as the wastewater leaked into a containment pond that was its final destination.
Today, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship and Member of Parliament for Central Nova, Larry Harrison, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley, and His Worship George Lloy, Mayor of the Town of Stewiacke, announced more than $6.2 million in joint funding to improve the Town’s water and wastewater infrastructure.
Extracting fossil fuels from underground reservoirs requires so much water a Chevron scientist once referred to its operations in California’s Kern River Oilfield “as a water company that skims oil.” Fracking operations use roughly 1.5 million to 16 million gallons per well to release oil and gas from shale, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. All that water returns to the surface as wastewater called flowback and produced water, or FPW, contaminated by a complex jumble of hazardous substances in fluids injected to enhance production, salts, metals and other harmful elements once sequestered deep underground, along with their toxic breakdown products.
Canada formalized its minimum protection standards for marine protected areas on Wednesday at a global ocean conservation summit in Vancouver. Oil and gas activity, mining, the dumping of certain waste materials and destructive bottom trawling fishing won’t be allowed in any MPAs established from April 2019 and onward, said federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray and Steven Guilbeault, minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada, during a press conference at the IMPAC5 summit.
The City of Hamilton says roughly 59 million litres of sewage had flowed from 11 homes near Rutherford Avenue and Myrtle Avenue straight into Lake Ontario since 1996. "City staff developed this estimate based on the water meter usage data from the 11 properties connected to the combined sewer pipe," reads a release, which adds this method was identified as the most accurate way to represent the discharge. The city confirmed the sewage leak on Monday during a risk-based proactive inspection program prompted by a separate, 337-million-litre sewage spill discovered in late November.
Ontario's Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) says it is "highly concerned" to hear about yet another instance of sewage flowing straight into the Hamilton Harbour. This comes after the city of Hamilton announced Monday it learned 11 homes near Rutherford Avenue and Myrtle Avenue in Ward 3 have been flushing their wastewater straight into Lake Ontario since 1996. The exact amount of sewage is unclear.
As Canadian public health officials question China's transparency in sharing its COVID-19 surveillance information, scientists are stepping up airplane wastewater testing to try to get an early warning of potential new variants. On Friday, Vancouver International Airport will join Toronto's Pearson International Airport in taking samples of fecal matter that came from airplane toilets to identify what coronavirus variants and subvariants passengers and crew might be bringing into Canada.
Various levels of government have announced $10.5 million in joint funding for two wastewater and stormwater projects in the Canning region of Nova Scotia. The first project will support wastewater treatment and collection system upgrades in the Municipality of the County of Kings where the wastewater treatment facility will be improved to increase capacity and accommodate future growth, a Dec. 22 release explained.
Inside the Pine Creek wastewater treatment plant in the south of Calgary, a lab run by the University of Calgary is busy processing wastewater samples from municipalities across the province. This lab, along with one operated by the University of Alberta, started tracing levels of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater in early 2020 — providing Alberta Health Services with infection trends in different communities. Now the project has expanded to check for influenza A and B, as well as RSV — respiratory viruses that are all currently putting a strain on Alberta's health care system.
COVID-19 levels in wastewater are dropping in three Saskatchewan cities, according to University of Saskatchewan researchers who have been tracking the viral load in Saskatoon, Prince Albert and North Battleford. In Saskatoon, viral levels in wastewater have dipped 14.9 per cent from the previous week. This comes after a massive spike of 460 per cent the week before that.
University of Regina researchers say the amount of SARS-CoV-2 circulating in the city's wastewater remains high, but is down from previous levels. The latest analysis for the week of Oct. 30 through Nov. 5 showed a mixture in COVID levels for the cities studied. Analysis of the City of Moose Jaw's wastewater shows an increase in virus, putting that city's COVID levels at a moderate-high level.
