Nicole Hancock
Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony ...

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.

Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony to heal Chedoke Creek

ammonia

Province approves second green hydrogen proposal for Point Tupper

Province approves second green hydrogen proposal for Point Tupper

Nova Scotia's environment minister has approved a second green hydrogen production plant in Point Tupper, N.S. Bear Head Energy plans to construct the green hydrogen and ammonia facility in the Point Tupper Industrial Park on the Strait of Canso at the same location it had once planned to build a liquefied natural gas plant. The company will produce green hydrogen by drawing water from Landrie Lake, then using renewable energy from wind turbines to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen through a process called electrolysis. It will then convert the hydrogen into ammonia, which makes it easier to ship hydrogen long distances.

Current Water Technologies Receives $645,300 in Sales of Automated Pumping Systems

Current Water Technologies Receives $645,300 in Sales of Automated Pumping Systems

Current Water Technologies Inc. (TSX-V: WATR) (“CWTI” or “the Company” or “the Corporation“), an emerging technology leader in the management of industrial and municipal wastewaters and drinking water resources, provides a corporate update. Since the start of January 2023, the Company has received purchase orders totalling $645,300 for custom designed and built, state-of-the-art automated storm water pumping stations to be installed in Western Canada.

Lebret, Star Blanket Cree Nation unveil new $3.3M wastewater treatment facility

Lebret, Star Blanket Cree Nation unveil new $3.3M wastewater treatment facility

Two communities in southern Saskatchewan officially cut the ribbon Tuesday on a new $3.3-million wastewater treatment facility that is being touted as eco-responsible and award-winning. The facility will serve businesses and about 300 people in Lebret, and another 126 people in Wa-Pii Moos-Toosis on Star Blanket Cree Nation, according to a release.

BQE Water Signs Multi-Year Operating Agreement for Mine Water Treatment Services at Minto Mine

BQE Water Signs Multi-Year Operating Agreement for Mine Water Treatment Services at Minto Mine

BQE Water Inc. (TSX-V: BQE), a leader in the treatment and management of mine impacted waters, has entered into an Operating Services Agreement with Minto Metals Corp to provide plant operations services for an existing water treatment plant at Minto Mine located approximately 240 km northwest of Whitehorse, Yukon through to 2024. Under the agreement, BQE Water will be responsible for clean water production at the mine where the final effluent must meet stringent requirements not only for metals but ammonia, nitrite and nitrate to protect the aquatic life in the receiving environment. Included in the operations services provided by BQE Water will be on-site technical supervision, coordination with Minto's environmental and metallurgical team to maximize the volume of water discharged into the environment, operator training, and on-site and off-site engineering support.

Feds must protect Albertans from tailing ponds pollution

Feds must protect Albertans from tailing ponds pollution

J. Paul Getty, the famous 20th-century American oil and gas tycoon, once noted: “If you owe the bank $100, that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem.” That’s the sort of conundrum facing Albertans right now when it comes to the massive tailings ponds created by the province’s oilsands companies. Those ponds contain approximately 1.4 trillion litres of water, the equivalent of more than 560,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, and it’s about to come rushing down the Athabasca River — one way or another.

Baffled over the purpose of new water and watershed bylaw

Baffled over the purpose of new water and watershed bylaw

On Oct. 20, 2018 the citizens of the Cowichan Valley voted for establishing the Drinking Water and Watershed Protection Service Establishment Bylaw (#4202). We thought that this bylaw would be used to protect our water supplies. It has been known for many years that the wells at three commercial establishments on Fisher Road, Cobble Hill had nitrate levels greatly exceeding the Health Canada Drinking Water Guidelines. These wells and surrounding CVRD monitoring wells have been monitored by a number of agencies, including the CVRD, in the past. The Cobble Hill Aquifer Interagency Task Group (CHAITG) was established to deal with this nitrate contamination and this Task Group commissioned Western Water Associates Ltd. (WWAL) to carry out a review of past studies. Surprisingly, this review did not review aquifer nitrite levels, only nitrate levels. Nitrite is a bigger concern than nitrate since nitrite can convert the oxygen-carrying hemoglobin to methemoglobin which does not carry oxygen. Thus, nitrite can cause tissue oxygen deficiency which is particularly problematical for infants and children since it can stunt their mental and physical growth.

UBC fined $1.2M for releasing ammonia into Fraser River tributary

UBC fined $1.2M for releasing ammonia into Fraser River tributary

Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued hefty fines to the University of British Columbia and CIMCO Refrigeration for releasing ammonia-laden water into a tributary of the Fraser River in Vancouver. According to a written statement, UBC was fined $1.2 million and CIMCO $800,000 stemming from a complaint about an ammonia odour at an outfall ditch connected to Booming Ground Creek in Pacific Spirit Regional Park on Sept. 12, 2014. The ministry says UBC and CIMCO were fixing the refrigeration system at Thunderbird Arena at the university's Vancouver campus when they purged residual ammonia vapours from the system into a storm drain that flowed into a ditch and then the creek. 

The water tastes funny. So does this municipality's 'disrespectful' plan for a redo, locals say

The water tastes funny. So does this municipality's 'disrespectful' plan for a redo, locals say

Nicole Hancock, the executive director of the Safe Drinking Water Foundation, said systems exist that would take care of all contaminants and produce water that "would taste and smell great."
"I think that they should build a high quality treatment plant for a fraction of the cost," said Hancock. "We think that it would cost them less than $500,000. That's less than one-sixth of the cost."
"I don't think they've looked into these options," said Heney. "I don't think they want this town to stay here."

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