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.
A plan is now in place to create the kind of detailed flood plain maps that some of Nova Scotia's emergency managers have said they lacked when torrential flooding occurred in July. Byron Rafuse, deputy minister of the Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing, told a legislature committee Wednesday it's expected the mapping will be conducted over the next three fiscal years and be completed by 2026.
Vancouver International Airport (YVR) welcomes today’s announcement from the Governments of Canada and British Columbia, which confirms funding through the CleanBC Communities Fund, a component of the federal Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP). As part of its Roadmap to Net Zero, YVR is replacing three, large tap water heating systems in the main terminal building to reduce carbon emissions and retrofit the terminal to be more energy efficient. On top of YVR’s investment of $1.8 million, the federal and provincial governments will provide a combined $3.57 million, enabling the replacement of the natural gas hot water heaters with air source heat pumps. This project will reduce the airport’s carbon emissions by eight per cent annually (855 tonnes of CO2) once complete.
Canada has well over 800,000 lakes, making it the country with the most lakes in the world. With so many lakes, you can imagine it’s hard to choose just one to visit. Most of the lakes in Canada are clear and perfect for swimming and exploring. But which lakes are the clearest? Can you swim in the lakes? Follow along to discover the 9 clearest lakes in Canada and fun facts about each.
Prince Edward Island's Andrew Murray will be part of the birthday celebrations for King Charles III, which include the launch of a new book featuring the monarch's vision for his reign and related stories from around the Commonwealth. It amounts to a very public debut for a project that has been in development for three years in Murray's home province of P.E.I., breathing new life into former dams to generate green energy.
The problem, which the city has said is because of aging pipes, has led to complaints from people living on dozens of streets in various parts of the city. Some took their concerns to city council earlier this year, saying they tested their water and found unsafe amounts of iron. Danis went to speak to council last month. "I would love for something to happen, but when is it going to happen?" she asked. "We have no idea."
The city is considering putting in drinking fountains for humans and pooches in parks, according to a report that went to the planning and environment committee Monday. Thirty-six parks could be potentially suitable for the water servicing, the report states. Right now, 24 city parks have water fountains, but none of the five off-leash dog parks do.
Two New Brunswick cities are considering opposite approaches when it comes to residential water meters. Bathurst in the northeast has meters but is considering switching to a flat-rate model based on the cost to update its system. Dieppe in the southeast charges a flat rate but will test meters in several hundred homes next year. Meters measure water usage, billing customers at a rate set by the community.
A New Brunswick tourist destination is getting some help fixing its water supply. Fundy Albert, which includes Alma next to Fundy National Park, is getting $12 million to upgrade its aging water infrastructure. This comes after years of boil-water advisories in the community, including one that lasted from July to October.
For 10 days every summer, a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people launch their canoes each morning after a Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address and continue on their journey down the Grand River in southern Ontario. The annual Two Row on the Grand is not just any paddling trip — it's an enactment of the Two Row Wampum treaty, an agreement made more than 400 years ago between the Haudenosaunee people and Dutch settlers.
Residents of the Columbia Basin and beyond gathered online Oct.18, hoping their concerns about the low water levels of the Arrow Lakes reservoir would be addressed. The 90-minute presentation focused on the situation through the lens of the Columbia River Treaty, and the current negotiations happening to modernize it.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May has tabled a petition calling on the federal government to take urgent action on Canada’s aging asbestos-cement pipes due to the potential dangers of drinking tap water containing the deadly fibre. “This is an understudied and unregulated problem,” May said Thursday in the House of Commons. “Believe it or not, many municipalities rely on old cement water pipe delivering water to millions of Canadians, and the pipes contain asbestos fibres.”
A group of women in Pine Grove Correctional Centre are on hunger strike over alleged poor living conditions at the jail. Faith Eagle said she initially began the strike on Oct. 31 as a ceremonial fast for an inmate in the Saskatoon Correctional Centre, who she says can't visit his daughter in hospital. The fast escalated to a hunger strike against poor conditions, she said, including the quality of drinking water.
It’s something we use everyday — couldn’t survive without, actually — and often take for granted. Yet freshwater could run out by 2040 at our current rate of consumption, says a report by BofA Global Research. “Some 75 per cent of our planet is covered with water, yet less than 1 per cent is usable, and even this is depleting quickly,” said BofA equity strategists led by Haim Israel.
As reservoir levels stabilize in southern Alberta, a consulting company says it’s crucial that all stakeholders work together. Irrigation districts in southern Alberta managed a tough growing season as drought maintains a stubborn hold and calls for maintaining co-operation between stakeholders and better water storage infrastructure continues. From the Milk River along the U.S. border to the Hay River running into the Northwest Territories, 50 water shortage advisories are currently in place across the province.
But in a groundbreaking mission to mitigate the global water crisis without further contributing to carbon emissions, a Canadian company, Oneka Technologies, is pioneering an innovative approach to desalination. The Quebec-based startup has developed an avant-garde solution that harnesses the boundless energy of the ocean waves to convert saltwater into fresh, drinkable water. Oneka Technologies’ floating desalination units, anchored securely to the ocean floor, utilize a membrane-based system, known as reverse osmosis, to purify seawater. The process is elegantly simple: wave energy is converted into mechanical energy, powering pumps that draw in seawater and push a portion through a semipermeable membrane to filter out the salt. The result is clean, potable water delivered to shore through pipelines, propelled by the very force that generated it: the undulating waves of the sea. “Oneka's technology is 100% mechanically driven," Hunt told the BBC, underscoring the zero-electricity operation of their machines. Such innovation represents a seismic shift towards sustainability in desalination practices.
After years of delays and false starts, eight governments impacted by an expansive Canadian coal-mining operation are set to meet today on Indigenous territory in Cranbrook, British Columbia, to discuss the future of the governments’ shared waterways. The meeting will include representatives from the federal governments of the United States and Canada and the Ktunaxa Nation Council, which advocates for the interests of six bands of Indigenous people spread across present-day British Columbia, Montana and Idaho. The council, which includes representation from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, has for years asked for greater oversight of Teck Resources’ British Columbia-based coal-mining operation.
While the southern N.W.T. was battered by wildfires this summer, the territory's remote Sahtu region faced its own climate challenge: a historically-low Mackenzie River. For the first time in living memory, low water caused by extremely dry conditions prevented most of the season's supply barges — hauling everything from drywall to gummy bears — from navigating the Mackenzie. The river is a lifeline for the five communities that make up the N.W.T.'s Sahtu riding: Deline, Fort Good Hope, Tulita, Colville Lake, and Norman Wells, the regional hub of roughly 800 people. And the high cost of living is the number one issue heading into the Nov. 14 territorial election.
Authorities in Croatia recommended Wednesday that people drink only tap water as they investigated reports of several people sickened or suffering throat injuries allegedly after consuming bottled beverages. Health authorities ordered the "suspected" products pulled from shops and restaurants, without specifying which products. However, photos on social media from shops suggested they were Coca-Cola brands, and the company later said it was temporarily withdrawing some of its products.
Rising global temperatures are causing harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes which can lead to the emergence of three toxins in the water, according to the past president of the International Ozone Association. Saad Jasim, an adjunct professor at the University of Windsor, is preparing for a new research project to prevent these toxins from entering the drinking water supply.
Canada is a water-rich nation responsible for 20 per cent of the global resource. This seemingly limitless bounty is easy to take for granted but, as the very basis of life, freshwater cannot be left behind as we work our way through the challenges of a changing world. In recognition of the need for broader coordination, the Canada Water Agency (CWA) was launched in 2023 as part of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). Based in Winnipeg, Man., the agency will become an independent entity in the coming months with a mandate to modernize and integrate freshwater management in Canada.
