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.
Burns Lake and two other municipalities will share a $10 million investment for building three new water and wastewater projects under Canada’s infrastructure environmental quality program. Burns Lake’s old sewage treatment plant and electrical equipment have reached the end of their service life and will need to be replaced, and this grant will be invested into this project.
The callous exploitation of natural resources underlines the context that has created a mash-up of toxins – in the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we ingest. Consider the state of water. Data published by UN Water show that over 2 billion people, or roughly a quarter of the world population, lack “safely managed” drinking water and 2.3 billion live in water-stressed countries. Groundwater accounts for a major share of human consumption and is threatened by contamination by fertilisers, pesticides, industrial and mining wastes, petroleum products and solid waste landfills. A Lancet report reveals that water pollution was responsible for 1.4 million premature deaths in 2019. The World Bank has observed that shallow groundwater in every populated region should be considered at risk of pollution.
The US Supreme Court curtailed the federal government's authority to protect its wetlands from pollution in a decision on Thursday. The court voted only those wetlands with a continuous surface connection to larger streams, lakes and rivers would come under federal protections. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expressed its disappointment. It is the second case in two years where the court limited the EPA's ability to regulate pollution.
Coastal GasLink has been issued stop work orders on a stretch of pipeline construction for the second time in just over a week, the latest in a pattern of environmental violations for polluting sensitive waterways. The pipeline project crosses about 625 lakes, rivers, creeks, wetlands, and streams in northern B.C. On Tuesday, the BC Environmental Assessment Office Compliance and Enforcement Branch said it had issued four stop work orders to Coastal GasLink late last week because erosion and sediment were negatively impacting the upper Anzac River watershed, about 130 kilometres northeast of Prince George.
I discovered one obvious reality when I moved to Manitoba in 2001: water is a big, big issue here. And it’s often news. Farm news. Agriculture news. Winnipeg news. Indigenous news. Environmental news. Sometimes it even gets to be national news. Whether it’s floods, droughts, water pollution, drainage, wetlands, sewage plant costs or Canada-U.S. river crossings, water issues are often the most important in the province.
A Wiikwemkoong Elder could be featured on Canada’s $20 bill following a campaign to have an Indigenous woman featured on the note. CEO of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, Lynne Groulx, says they launched the “Change the Bill” in January, a campaign aiming to get an Indigenous woman featured on the bill to acknowledge contributions made in Canada.
Mining, however, has devastating consequences on the environment and is associated with forest loss, contamination of freshwater resources as well as the impoverishment and displacement of communities. Between 2008 and 2017, mining waste failures in the country have killed more than 340 people, polluted hundreds of kilometres of waterways, wiped our fish populations and jeopardised the livelihoods of entire communities.
The media-based water filter market is expected to grow at a significant rate due to the increasing awareness about water pollution and the need for clean and safe drinking water. The market is driven by the increasing demand for clean water, especially in developing countries, and the growing awareness about water-borne diseases. In terms of product type, the market can be segmented into activated carbon filters, sand filters, and multimedia filters. Activated carbon filters are expected to dominate the market due to their ability to remove chlorine, chloramines, and other volatile organic compounds.
Andrew Whitehead, an environmental toxicologist at the University of California, Davis in the U.S. is intimately familiar with another striking example of how humans can drive rapid evolution in animals. In particular, he looks at a little fish called the killifish. “There are populations living in these radically human-altered estuaries, and these are environments that should be lethal to them,” he explains. Certain estuaries in the U.S. are full of chemical pollution, yet the fish are thriving. As Whitehead says, “Killifish from those sites are resistant to up to 8,000 times the normally lethal concentration of these chemicals.”
We take it for granted. We turn on the kitchen or bathroom faucets in our homes and offices with every expectation that the water we receive is uncontaminated and not dangerous to our health. Unfortunately, pure water has become extinct. In this day and age, we cannot assume that water is pollutant-free—regardless of the source. Just because it comes out of our kitchen faucet, its purity is not guaranteed. Newspapers and television newscasts report almost daily how water pollution is increasing from the sewage and industrial waste being dumped directly into our drinking water sources.
Zahra Tootonsab is in the second year of her PhD program in the Faculty of Humanities’ Department of English and Cultural Studies. Her research focuses on water pollution in Canada and Iran, and how Indigenous knowledges in both places can help inspire environmental activism and promote water security. This year, Tootonsab received a Wilson Leadership Scholar Award, which is part of a leadership development program launched at McMaster by Chancellor Emeritus L.R Wilson. Here, she shares her thoughts on her research and the influences on her work.
But even if the technology was deployed successfully, several critics say the projects would pose threats to the public health of communities long plagued by air and water pollution… That's concerning for Nayamin Martinez, who lives in the valley and is the director of the Central California Environmental Justice Network. “That worries us a lot,” she said. “What does that mean in terms of risk for contamination of drinking water?”
Coastal GasLink is facing more criticism over water-quality concerns as a result of construction on its 670-kilometre pipeline through northern B.C., this time in the western portion of the route near Kitimat. On Feb. 19, the company received an order from B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office for allowing sediment to flow into a watercourse where its pipeline right-of-way crosses the South Hirsch Forest Service Road, just east of Kitimat. The order requiring the company to prevent sediment-laden water from entering watercourse comes days after the company was fined $72,500 for similar violations that have repeatedly been identified along the pipeline route.
A study published in Nature Geoscience provides six ways to address nitrogen pollution which can impact our water quality for decades. Although nitrogen fertilisers are critical for growing crops to feed the world, when used in excess they can pollute our water long term, researchers say. A study entitled ‘Managing nitrogen legacies to accelerate water quality improvement’ provides six steps to address nitrogen pollution and improve water quality. The work carried out by the University of Waterloo in Canada provides a roadmap for scientists, policymakers and the public to overcome the challenges associated.
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.
Starting May 5th to 9th, Plains Cree Mide-Kwe Water Walker Tasha Beeds will conduct a Ceremonial Water Walk for Nibi Nikwejiwong (Junction Creek), in Sudbury Ontario. This will be done following all COVID guidelines. Tasha Beeds was mentored under Josephine-Ba Mandamin, a highly respected Anishinaabe Grandmother and Late Water Walker who walked around the Great Lakes to bring awareness to the problems of water pollution and environmental degradation.
