Alberta’s environment minister says it’s not an emergency yet, but a deep snowpack and heavy spring rains may be needed to avoid serious water problems in the new year. Doug Vaessen explains.
Canadian ranchers brace for long, lean winter after droughts, soaring feed costs
As of Sept. 30, according to Agriculture Canada's most recent update, 72 per cent of the country and 69 per cent of Canada's agricultural landscape was considered either "abnormally dry" or in "moderate to exceptional drought." But drought's effects aren't felt only in the summer. For cattle producers, winter is when the toll can be most severe, as animals' caloric needs are higher and grazing land is frozen or snow-covered. "Certainly, the impacts are carrying on for people that utilize the resources that were depleted during the summer," said Trevor Hadwen, a Regina-based agroclimate specialist with Agriculture Canada.
Okanagan has one of the highest water use rates per person in Canada
A community consulting firm is asking, ‘Water you doing, Spall?’ The Township of Spallumcheen is looking to get the word out about the critical importance of water conservation. According to Spall reports, the Okanagan has one of the highest rates of water use per person in Canada, meaning there is less water available per person in the Okanagan than anywhere else in the country.
Dress code for a happier planet
Consumers are increasingly worried about climate change, the fashion industry’s contribution to pollution and plastics and its terrible human rights track record. Fashion adds 10 per cent of the globe's greenhouse gas emissions and this will rise to 50 per cent if left unchecked. It takes 700 gallons of water to make one cotton T-shirt and that water is polluted by the time it is returned to the water table. Ninety-seven per cent of our clothes are made in the Global South by people working in slave-like conditions who are paid less than their country’s living wage.
Mayor of Gibsons demands action on water supply
Swimming pools and lavish gardens of the rich are driving water shortages, study says
Swimming pools, flower gardens, indoor fountains — and the urbanites who can afford them — are big factors behind the increasingly dire water crises plaguing cities, an international research team says. Published in the journal Nature Sustainability, a new study found socioeconomic disparity to be just as influential as climate change and population growth when it comes to explaining why the water supply in so many cities is shrinking.
Celebrate the achievements of 2023 Women's Resource Centre award recipients
Prior to beginning her PhD, the major focus of her work was to find solutions to problems related to unclean water and water shortages within communities in India, specifically in regards to how these issues affect women. From 2016 to 2019, she held the role of thematic lead for water for the national sectoral steering committee for the habitat sector, Technology Information, Forecasting, and Assessment Council at the Department of Science and Technology within the Government of India. During this role she has led the preparation of status report on India’s climate change and habitat initiatives for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. She has brought international attention to concerns surrounding water issues by collaborating with workshops at the University College of London, in addition to organizing a workshop alongside the San Diego State University where delegates from all over the world came to discuss how they address these concerns in their countries in hopes of aiding India.
Mexican president says Tesla to build plant in Mexico
Lopez Obrador had previously ruled out such a plant in the arid northern state of Nuevo Leon where Monterrey is the capital, because he didn’t want water-hungry factories in a region that suffers water shortages. But he said Musk’s company had offered commitments to address those concerns, including using recycled water. “There is one commitment that all the water used in the manufacture of electric automobiles will be recycled water,” Lopez Obrador said.
Lang Prof Addresses Commons Committee on Impact of Canadian Mining Abroad
Environmental and human rights impacts of Canadian mining firms operating abroad were the subject of recommendations by a University of Guelph professor to the House of Commons standing committee on international trade this month. A professor in the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics, and director of the Guelph Institute for Sustainable Commerce, Dr. Rumina Dhalla provided recommendations on Indigenous rights, women in mining, children and supply chains.
Unusual dry spell threatens B.C. reservoir levels
Parts of British Columbia known for towering rainforests and endless days of winter precipitation are experiencing some of the driest conditions on record. Both the Sunshine Coast and east side of Vancouver Island face persistent water shortages as below-average precipitation fails to replenish reservoirs drained by the fall drought. “This is the driest fall season on record for all Vancouver Island hydroelectric watersheds,” said B.C. Hydro spokesman Stephen Watson.
Water Crisis Poses Greatest Risk For Africa’s Food, CEO of Fertilizer Company Says
Those water issues -- driven by climate change -- will see African countries grappling with food crises for decades to come, Seelan Gobalsamy, chief executive officer of South Africa’s Omnia Holdings Ltd., said in an interview Monday. Inadequate infrastructure to move key farming products will cause further problems, he said. “When the sun shines, it’s harsher and when there’s rain, it comes down in buckets,” the CEO said in Bloomberg’s office in Johannesburg, hours before one of the heaviest summer hailstorms the city has experienced in years. “If you ask me what our biggest risk is going forward, is it Russia’s war on Ukraine, or supply chain? It’s actually climate change.”
B.C. Hydro reducing power generation at Alouette Lake as drought conditions worsen
As dry, unseasonably warm weather across B.C. persists well into October, the crystal blue water at Maple Ridge's Alouette Lake has retreated by at least 10 metres, leaving buoys sitting on dry land and would-be swimmers walking across bone-dry lakebed to access the shallows. Alouette Lake is a popular summer and boating spot, located about an hour's drive east of Vancouver in Golden Ears Provincial Park. The lake is also a B.C. Hydro reservoir, where water is regularly diverted to generate power and to ensure water levels are sufficient to sustain nearby salmon populations in the Alouette River.
Producers experiencing water shortages in southwest Sask.
Farmers and other producers in southwest Saskatchewan are experiencing dry fall weather. The lack of rain in some areas is causing "moderate to severe on-site water shortages," according to the latest provincial crop report. "It's just setting us up again for a questionable start for next spring," Garner Deobald, the president of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association, said. Deobald said most places have seen below average snowfall for the last three or four years. He said the Ministry of Agriculture needs to monitor water quality.
Drought, high costs bring U.S. berry giants to Canada's maple syrup land
A swath of Canada better known for maple syrup is being tested to mass produce berries normally grown in warmer locales, making it the unexpected beneficiary of extreme weather, local demand and rising costs in traditional growing areas like California. Driscoll's and grower-owned Naturipe Farms LLC, two of North America's largest fruit sellers, are both testing commercial production of berries in Ontario and Quebec, executives said.
PETER McKENNA: At what price could parched U.S. tap into Canada's water?
Our closest neighbour to the south has a serious problem — and I’m not talking about racial animus, gun violence or political polarization. No, I’m referring to water shortages that the United States has never experienced before. To put it bluntly, the U.S. is literally running out of accessible water. And without water, the lives of millions of Americans are in immediate danger. I mean, you can’t live without safe water to drink.
Opinion: Water exports to a thirsty U.S.? Not so fast
News of the drying up of Lake Mead, the largest-capacity water reservoir in the United States, and the recent high-profile release of California’s strategy for dealing with the state’s growing water shortages are combining to raise questions of whether Canada will one day be exporting its fresh water south. The prospect of our water being exported in bulk to a thirsty U.S. neighbour captures Canadians’ attention. For one, the subject goes to the heart of concern about our national sovereignty. It is also a scenario that is readily and intuitively grasped: one can see in the mind’s eye Canada’s water flowing north to south — top to bottom on the map of North America — as if through some giant open tap, even though many cross-border rivers actually flow south to north.
Fork in the Road: Ain’t no cure for the summertime blues
But we don’t stop there. Merely looking at water, when we’re camping or otherwise, is just the beginning. After lapping it up and pouring it over ourselves to feel better, we pour it on our pets, our plants and our dusty vehicles after all those road trips. And so, I gently remind you, me, all of us, dear readers, especially during these hot dry summer months, that that thar blue stuff is precious. So treasure it! I remember staying with a family in Tokyo who’d known my great-aunt in Canada. After taking a nice cool shower on a muggy August day, my host gently commented, “Ah, Canadians love water.” My showers became much shorter after that, but he was right. We Canucks love our water and use it like wastrels, even during the Stage 2 restrictions now in effect.
Slow spring melt means Milk River farmers may avoid another summer of water shortages
Just under two months ago, Elise Walker was sure her farm near the Milk River would experience another summer of drought conditions. But with a cool, rainy spring now in the rearview, things are looking much different. The native prairie has a nice green tinge, she said, and the rain keeps coming. "It makes a huge difference, considering how dry we've been the past 12 months," she told the Calgary Eyeopener Monday.
https://www.canadaland.com/podcast/776-prairie-poop-bots-floods-and-water-shortages/
Canada might be a water-rich country, but that doesn't mean we don't have problems with water security. This week, we look at water issues in the most arid part of Canada, the Prairies, and see how climate change and city planning are both exacerbating the problem. Did you know during a recent storm the City of Winnipeg released 60 million litres of raw sewage into the Red River? Did you know the City of Morden, Manitoba almost ran out of potable water during the extreme drought last summer?
Enjoy your guac while you still can: Why some chefs are smashing the avocado trend
Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax, told CTV's Your Morning on Tuesday that avocado production is linked to a loss of biodiversity, water shortages and deforestation. According to the Water Footprint Network, a single avocado requires nearly 230 litres of water to grow, compared to an orange that needs about 50 litres, or a tomato that requires 13 litres.