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.
The Town of Hay River is reminding residents to get ready for a flood — just in case — as breakup season arrives in the southern N.W.T. Water levels on the Hay River have started rising slightly. Ice is starting to build up a bit near Mile 5 and between Smith Trail and Delancey Estates. On Wednesday afternoon, the town issued a precautionary evacuation notice to residents. It said that an evacuation alert and/or order would come if conditions worsened.
A mild winter has meant not very much ice has formed on the Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair. "This year is an extraordinary year," said Steve Salmons, president and CEO of the Windsor Port Authority. Salmons says the lack of ice means ships have easier time of navigating but it doesn't mean a higher volume of goods moves because most ships are taken out of service for winter maintenance and the locks close seasonally anyway.
"We're working with the Ministry of Environment on what steps to take ... We need to make sure it's handled properly as it's a safety issue. And we don't want to have any impact on drinking water." The loss of that many cattle "is a huge loss for any rancher," the chief added, and the recovery has a limited window to happen before it could potentially impact water quality and also before the carcasses are no longer suitable to go to the rendering plant.
Plumbers in London, Ont. say they are responding to an influx of calls for help with bursting pipes following days of harsh winter weather. A fierce mix of rain, ice, heavy snow and chilly temperatures over the holiday weekend left travellers stranded and thousands without power across much of Ontario and Quebec. The London region experienced minimal outages, but extreme conditions have caused pipes in many residences and businesses to freeze and then burst as they thaw.
“I’m still processing. Getting this award is really exciting,” said Kahan. “People who have won this award in the past are people whom I greatly admire. Being put in the same category as them is validating and really important recognition by my peers.” As the winner, she will present a keynote lecture at CIC’s Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition (CSC 2023) in Vancouver in early June.
The Hay River has spilled over its banks, and N.W.T. hydrologist Anna Coles says hydrometric gauges installed to measure water levels in the river and its tributaries are showing record high water levels. "The provisional data are showing that we are seeing the highest water levels that those gauges have recorded," said Anna Coles, a hydrologist with the N.W.T. government.
The City of Gatineau issued a boil water advisory Wednesday for about 900 homes in the Hull sector. The advisory is in effect until further notice. It encompasses an area north of Boulevard des Hautes-Plaines between Boulevard de la Techologie and Boulevard de la Cité-des-Jeunes, south of Galene Street. Residents are advised to boil their tap water for at least one minute before consuming it. Once the advisory is lifted cold water taps must be opened and left running for one minute or it gets cold. Any ice made from tap water during the boil water advisory should be discarded.
The ice giant planets Uranus and Neptune are water-rich worlds with deep layers of ice or possibly liquid water beneath their thick atmospheres. Their interior “oceans” are more extensive than the oceans on Earth or the ice deposits and/or subsurface lakes on Mars. There’s a lot we don’t know about the water layers on Uranus and Neptune. In May 2021, researchers in the U.S. and South Korea announced new findings suggesting the water layers of these exotic water worlds might be rich in magnesium. This finding provides clues to their interior chemistry.
A boil water advisory on the Black Lake Denesuline First Nation that has been in place for more than seven years has been lifted, according to the Government of Canada. The long-term drinking water advisory (LT-DWA) was lifted on January 23. Nearly 200 homes and buildings in the northern First Nation such as the school, fire hall and band office now have clean drinking water from the local water treatment plant.
