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.
Officials are investigating after raw sewage started spilling into the Capilano River, one of the largest rivers flowing through Metro Vancouver's North Shore. The Squamish Nation, whose territories encompass much of North Vancouver, first reported the leak publicly on Friday. B.C.'s environment ministry later said it first heard about the sewage four days earlier, flowing out a storm drain outfall pipe from a private property near Fullerton Avenue in West Vancouver.
"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.
Officials on P.E.I. are reminding Islanders with wells to get their drinking water tested regularly — including for manganese. The element is naturally occurring in the environment, and is typically found in swampy areas. Some studies have shown an association between high levels of manganese in drinking water and neurological effects in children, said Ryan Neale, manager of environmental health with the Chief Public Health Office.
Three years after a flood engulfed Beauceville, the Quebec town could face legal sanctions after razing wetlands without a permit, a Quebec municipal commission report has found. From March to May, clear cutting was carried out over several hectares on behalf of the town of about 6,500 on lots the Environment Ministry had not approved, the commission says.
The drinking water supply in the city of Cambridge has higher levels of sodium than recommended by Health Canada according to regular water quality reports taken by the region. The Region of Waterloo website states that regular sodium levels in drinking water should be below 20 mg/L. Anything higher must be reported to public health. A major cause of the increase is the way roads are treated and the type of salt that is used over the winter months. It's an issue the region is working on.
Drought conditions on Vancouver Island are now impacting winter activities at a popular ski destination. Mount Washington Alpine Resort, located about a 30-minute drive from the Comox Valley, is set to open Friday, Dec. 9, and a lack of snow on the hill and water in the local reservoirs mean visitors will have limited terrain to play on and will have to bring their own drinking water.
Last week, the federal government revealed that cleaning up Yellowknife's Giant Mine is now projected to cost $4.38 billion instead of $1 billion. This is, by one measure, greater than the mine's total estimated revenues during its operation. Quantifying, in dollar terms, the impact of the mine on the local economy, the environment, and the people who live on and use the area's land and water is complicated, if not impossible.
BlueTriton officials stressed there is no plan to increase water taking for bottling and their operations in Wellington County are not impacting surface water levels. The conglomerate, which bought Nestle Waters Canada in 2021, held an annual engagement meeting earlier this week on technical data gathered from Jan. 1 to Nov. 15 last year. The former company also held these meetings with stakeholders from local municipalities and water organizations.
Photos show just how deep the floodwaters were last week following a storm across the southern half of British Columbia. Images captured by The Canadian Press show three areas of Abbotsford, B.C., as they looked underwater, at the height of the flooding in the Fraser Valley city. The same locations were then photographed again as the water receded, showing the dramatic impact of the previous storm.
A Windsor-based engineer said climate change is taking a toll on the health of the Great Lakes and this could in turn have an impact on the quality of drinking water for millions of people. Saad Jasim, who is also president of the International Ozone Association, said the impact of climate change on the Great Lakes is quite visible in the form of harmful algal blooms. "But it's not just the way it looks, these algal blooms produce some fatal toxins … there are different species of those toxins [and] unfortunately only one of the species is regulated by Health Canada," Jasim told CBC Windsor.
Completed in 1973, the Army Corps of Engineers dam was designed to regulate how spring snow melt in the Kootenay River watershed (87% of which originates in Canada) enters the downstream watershed. It has done so effectively, but at a considerable price to local residents. The upper end of the reservoir in Canada bears the brunt of the storage draw down each spring, and in dry years, the reservoir’s moonscape does not always refill to a level that allows for much recreation. The control over these water levels is 100% vested in American operation of Libby dam.
Contaminated water that leaked from an oilfield pipeline on Christmas Day has entered the North Saskatchewan River but has had no detectable impact on it, says a spokesman for Calgary-based oil and gas producer ARC Resources Ltd. The spill was reported by a local landowner at about 2 p.m. last Friday, said Sean Calder, ARC's vice-president of production, in an interview on Tuesday. "We had guys on site within about an hour and then the pipeline was shut in by 4 p.m., I believe," he said.
Maitland Conservation (MC), formerly Maitland Valley Conservation Authority (MCVA), has been monitoring two agricultural sub-watersheds to address water quality concerns and the effects of farming practices on local water. Ben Van Dieten, Agricultural Stewardship Technician, and Chris Van Esbroeck, Stewardship Services Coordinator of MC, presented their findings to date on these projects, in terms of how and when sediment and nutrients leave the landscape, and the practices they promote to reduce these losses.
The Alberta government wants to rewrite the rules on water use along the eastern slopes of the Rockies as part of its economic recovery plan, including a push for new coal developments in the area. Water use is highly restricted in southern Alberta due to concerns about supply, and new water licences cannot be issued, they have to be purchased from existing licence holders on the open market. The new plan put forward by the Alberta government would affect water pulled from the Oldman watershed above the dam.
