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.
Water levels have been significantly dropping in Hay River, N.W.T., resulting in waterfalls turning into trickles. One man has lived in Hay River for 40 years, and says he's never seen water levels so low this time of year. "You can see people walking across the river that's only a few feet deep in some areas," said Glenn Smith, the senior administrative officer for the town of Hay River.
Residents of Gull Lake, Alta., are concerned about drastically receding water levels and are trying to come up with creative solutions to refill the popular lake. Keith Nesbitt has lived in Gull Lake since 2007 but has been coming to the lake recreationally since the ’80s. As a director with the lake’s watershed society, he’s concerned about how much the water levels have dropped this year. “You can look at the beach here and you can see what’s happened to it. The boats are out even further. It’s getting critical, we have to do something with the lake,” he said.
In 1967, when the Gardiner Dam backed up the South Saskatchewan River to create the 200-km-long Lake Diefenbaker in the middle of Saskatchewan, the plan was to irrigate 500,000 parched acres. To this day, the giant T-shaped lake — named after Saskatchewan politician and Canada’s 13th Prime Minister, John George Diefenbaker — irrigates only 100,000 to 150,000 acres. “The Dief” is, one might say, an untapped resource, a ’60s-era feat of engineering stuck in vaporization mode. (It is said the lake loses more water to evaporation each year than it gives up for crop watering.)
Humidifiers are designed to help you breathe better, but depending on the type you have and the water you use, it might also be affecting your air quality at home. "It's not that I am saying humidifiers (are) completely bad for people. It's just we should be aware that the water quality we put into the humidifier is directly reflecting the quality of the indoor air you're breathing," said Ran Zhao, an assistant professor of Environment Chemistry at University of Alberta.
A man in Arizona sees a glimpse of a potentially frightening future. A future where the planet is hotter, the soil is drier, and our most precious resource is evaporating. His job is delivering water. And his job is getting harder. John Hornewer is now having to drive hours farther each day to fill his truck, which, in turn, fills the subterranean tanks at homes in an area outside Phoenix. His normal supplier cut him off; more precisely, on Jan. 1, the city of Scottsdale, Ariz., cut off transfers to the exurban community he serves in a desire to conserve water for its own residents. He found new suppliers, farther away. Then another supplier cut him off.
Although this summer in British Columbia is forecast to be cooler and wetter compared to 2021, experts say the need to conserve Metro Vancouver's water supply is more important than ever. While a cool, damp spring has made the recent introduction of lawn watering restrictions appear unnecessary, such measures are required to preserve the region's water supply through to the end of summer. Unlike last year, when a deadly, record-breaking heat dome settled over the province in June, the hottest time in 2022 is predicted to be mid-July to mid-August, according to Environment Canada — when reservoir levels are much lower.
It's been a hotter summer than most here in Calgary. And with the heat comes sweat — but there's more to perspiration than meets the nose. For Dr. Raj Bhardwaj, an urgent care doctor in Calgary, it's a fascinating phenomenon. While sweat is crucial to our survival, there's a $75-billion worldwide industry that's grown around helping people sweat less and hide their sweat, or at least the smell of it.
