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.
Through this investment, the Town of Kentville will install new water distribution pipes, sanitary sewer collection pipes and a stormwater management system as well as replace an existing water tank and treatment plant under the future Donald E. Hiltz Connector Road, which will connect the Kentville Business Park to Prospect Avenue. This investment will increase capacity to treat and manage wastewater and stormwater while opening up new land for to build housing in Kentville.
A consultant hired to review the former Liberal government's response to devastating spring flooding in 2018 found gaps in communication and public education. The report, written by consulting firm Calian Emergency Management Solutions, says some people found it difficult to find up-to-date information on road closures and struggled to understand why flood forecasting didn't always seem to match up with reality.
While 2022 was the driest year since water bottling companies began monitoring, BlueTriton consultants and officials maintained the company’s water taking for bottling purposes is sustainable. BlueTriton, the conglomerate who purchased Nestle Waters Canada’s operations in 2021, held a sparsely-attended in-person meeting Thursday morning at the Puslinch Community Centre going over 2022 annual monitoring reports for its wells in Aberfoyle and Erin where it has permits to take water for bottling purposes.
Niagara Region may have to revisit its water and wastewater master plan if changes by the province, in the form of Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, leave the municipality short of revenue for new growth-related projects. That’s what a recent report to its public works committee said as councillors examined the nuts of bolts of a planned update to the 2016 master plan last week.
More than half of the world’s largest lakes and reservoirs have lost significant amounts of water over the last three decades, according to a new study, which pins the blame largely on climate change and excessive water use. Roughly one-quarter of the world’s population lives in the basin of a drying lake, according to the study by a team of international scientists, published Thursday in the journal Science.
Beyond the obvious implications, such as having less water for drinking, cooking and cleaning, and less time for other activities due to needing to fetch water, there are other consequences affecting the health and well-being of individuals, families, communities and society. The extent to which gaps in water access can disrupt lives and livelihoods is the subject of inquiry for Gervin Ane Apatinga, researcher and PhD candidate, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Saskatchewan (USask).
The Okanagan is one of Canada’s most water-stressed regions and local organizations are hoping to take steps to conserve water in communities, which in turn allows for crops, wildlife and more to thrive across the valley. With temperatures rising and summer approaching quickly, residents are being reminded to think about one of the most important resources: water. “It’s incumbent on us to protect our water source and the biggest pillar in that is conservation and this is an effort to take those necessary steps to conservation,” said Blair Ireland, mayor of Lake Country.
The company said it faced a “challenging and disappointing first quarter” this year, in which copper production declined. It also faced scrutiny from the Yukon government regarding its water treatment plans and owed royalty payments to the Selkirk First Nation, Yukon’s energy and mines minister John Streicker said in an interview. In a statement on May 13, Minto Metals chief executive Chris Stewart said the decision to cease operations was “extremely difficult,” but the company was acting responsibly to avoid “any damage” to the environment.
One of the few amphibians that can survive the harsh winter conditions of boreal and subarctic areas is the wood frog, a prime example of organisms poised to feel the effects of climate change in the region. But these frogs need up to two months to develop from tadpoles and grow before the onset of summer. As the changing climate in the region shortens the window of time between snowmelt and the beginning of summer, frogs may be smaller when they emerge.
Response teams said they controlled the situation before it reached the provincial parkland and that the substance was non-agricultural source material. "Which is essentially treated organic and other waste that's already ready to go get applied to farmers' fields to fertilize crops, so it was a safe certified material," Watts explained. The agency is doing an assessment, but it's believed a check valve failed at the biosolids complex, causing the overflow.
Three main barriers impede access to safe services for many people in high-income countries, according to the new paper. First, systemic racism underlies inequities and limits access to resources, said the article. Historically marginalized people and low-income communities are more likely to lack access to safe water and sanitation. Those groups include minority racial and ethnic populations as well as Indigenous communities, migrants and people of colour, said the co-authors. In the United States, for instance, the authors found Native American households are 19 times more likely, and Black or Latinx households are nearly twice as likely, to be without functional water and wastewater access than households identifying as white. Second, changes to infrastructure financing, including a move to full-cost pricing in HICs, have reduced subsidies to people lacking services. Third, gaps persist because availability and quality of services are tied to housing and property ownership. Linking property to water and sanitation services is a policy choice that disadvantages groups including migrants, people living in poverty and people experiencing homelessness or in unstable housing, said the paper.
"The number of weather related disasters such as severe rain or ice storms has grown over the past 100 years from almost one per year in the early 1900s to an annual average of about three since the year 2000." Ice cover on the Great Lakes is 26 per cent lower than it was 50 years ago, the report found. "And Ontario's growing season has lengthened by about 13 days from 1950 to 2018," Shulz said. There are increased algae blooms in Lake Erie and rising levels of microplastics in Lake Ontario. Dissolved oxygen levels, important for aquatic organisms such as fish, are improving in Lake Simcoe, but do not meet the environment minister's targets. The report said 60 per cent of monitored rivers and streams rate "poor" to "very poor" for biological health.
Canada has plenty of natural wonders, and one lake nestled in the Alberta Rockies has been named one of the best places to see the clearest water in the world. The gem-colored lake is about an hour’s drive from the Banff townsite and about a two-hour drive from the Jasper townsite to its north. The lake and Peyto Glacier were named after Bill Peyto who was a renowned mountain guide and pioneer in Banff. You can hike for around 10 minutes to the viewpoint to take pictures of the stunning lake.
A group in Glace Bay, N.S., says the water in a local lake is contaminated and is asking the provincial government to clean it up before stocking the pond with more trout. The No. 20 Dam Sport Fishing Association paid to have the water tested at the John Bernard Croak Memorial Park on Beacon Street in September and president Donald McNeil said the results show levels of E. coli and total coliform that exceed Health Canada guidelines.
The Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine has issued evacuation orders for the communities of Old Remo and New Remo, which are on low-lying flood plains just west of Terrace, B.C. In a written statement, the district says it issued the evacuation orders because the flooding poses an imminent threat to people and properties in the two communities.
The Hamlet of Fort McPherson, N.W.T., declared a state of emergency over flooding on Tuesday evening. In a post on Facebook, the hamlet said it made the decision because flooding from the Peel River had cut off access to the community's airport and because access to fresh water could be "inaccessible in the imminent future." Earlier in the day, the hamlet said an emergency would be declared once flooding cut off the community's access to Deep Water Lake — meaning it would no longer have access to its water or sewage services.
The recommendations in the policy brief included updating the current water-audit form to suit 2023 conditions and more widely using it as a tool to educate citizens about water consumption. They also suggested The City recommend Alberta’s Ministry of Education amend elementary and secondary curriculums to include age-appropriate water-literacy programs.
Leaders and community members in the Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) of Kanesatake are demanding help in decontaminating a dump site that could affect water quality in one of Quebec's most popular lakes. Mohawk Council of Kanestake Grand Chief Victor Bonspille said he is in contact with Canada and his community's environmental protection office to find a solution to toxic water leaking off a now-closed recycling operation in the community west of Montreal.
Line 5 transports crude oil through the heart of the Great Lakes, an invaluable cultural resource for residents and visitors to the region who benefit from the connection with the water and the land. The pipeline has already leaked 29 times, spilling over 4.5 million litres of oil and putting 84 percent of North America’s surface freshwater at risk. And yet, Canada continues to prioritize the ongoing operation of the pipeline over this critical global freshwater system.
