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 main sewer line break occurred yesterday in the town of Cochrane, causing an overland sewage discharge that flowed into the Bow River at the Highway 22 bridge. Cochrane drinking water is not affected by the sewage and remains safe to drink. Stacy Loe is the executive director of protective and community services for Cochrane. She said the town found out about the problem at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Alberta's ombudsman has found that the province's environment ministry did not follow legislation and policy after issuing an enforcement order against a northwest Edmonton composting facility. Cleanit Greenit Composting Systems stopped producing compost last year after losing its provincial registration. Residents had complained for years about an intermittent stench near the business and Alberta's environment ministry — then called Alberta Environment and Parks and now named Environment and Protected Areas — had found "ongoing and persistent issues related to air, land and water."
With another hot week in store for much of Alberta, many people are getting out to try to soak up and enjoy the remaining days of summer. With that, many will flock to nearby lakes to spend time at the beach. But several of Alberta’s lakes have been taken over by blue-green algae this summer, including Garner Lake where Harold Kinasewich calls home. Kinasewich has had a family property on Sunrise Beach since the 1950s. Now semi-retired, he lives at the lake and it’s a place where he spends a lot of quality time with his kids and grandkids.
Starting in December 2022, EPCOR will add orthophosphate to its treated water to reduce lead. As EPCOR is Leduc’s water provider, this includes our community’s water supply. Orthophosphate is an odorless, tasteless substance that creates a protective barrier on plumbing surfaces to reduce the release of lead in drinking water from all sources, including lead service lines and plumbing. Many municipalities across North America use orthophosphate. It has no negative health effects, and is endorsed by Alberta Health Services and Alberta Environment and Parks.
La Glace Community Water System: The $1.3 million project for the La Glace Community Water System will now be proceeding to tender. The tender results will be brought back to council in the future for approval. “Alberta Environment and Parks has confirmed the groundwater source to be high quality, enabling the design, which is 90 per cent complete, to be simplified to reduce redundancies and associated costs,” said the county.
People living in Okotoks, a town of 30,000 just south of Calgary, are being told to stop watering their lawns and gardens, while residents in the northern part of the community are being advised to boil their drinking water because of low supply in the reservoirs. The boil water advisory from Alberta Health Services and Alberta Environment and Parks affects several neighbourhoods: D'Arcy Ranch, Crystal Shores, Crystal Green, Air Ranch, Suntree and some parts of Crystal Ridge and Sandstone.
The Alberta government is giving $136 million of financial relief to livestock producers and beekeepers, after drought conditions and the pandemic took a toll on the industry. Premier Jason Kenney said at a press conference on Friday that the money is part of the AgriRecovery program — which combines efforts of the federal and provincial governments. According to a release issued Friday, the federal government agreed to $100 million for immediate relief for Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Alberta.
The province's plan for large-scale expansion of the industry is fueling widespread criticism that includes concerns over selenium pollution. The data shows that same contaminant has been found for years at high levels downstream of three mines and never publicly reported. The findings raise questions about Alberta Environment, said a former senior official who has seen the data. "There were lots of [selenium] numbers and it was consistently above the water quality guidelines and in many cases way higher," said Bill Donahue, the department's one-time executive director of science. "Why did Alberta Environment sit on these data for easily the last 10 to 15 years?"
New technology developed by engineers at the University of Alberta shows potential in cleaning and decontaminating process water from oilsands production. The process relies on ozonation and biofilters to remove organic compounds from contaminated water. The study, published in Science of the Total Environment, demonstrates that the method, previously used to clean pharmaceutical waste water, efficiently removes naphthenic acids, considered to be one of the main contaminants in oilsands process water.
