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.
Five days after a contractor damaged water and sewer lines that forced a community near Calgary to declare a state of emergency, repairs are underway. On Oct. 21, the City of Cochrane revealed that an unnamed contractor, doing work to twin the town’s sewer line, “impacted” sewage and water lines while preparing to drill. The two ruptures sent sewage and water into the Bow River, Cochrane and Calgary’s water source. The significant loss of water reduced the town’s water availability.
Those looking to water their lawns up at the Resort Village of Tobin Lake this Canada Day long weekend will be unable to do so. This comes after the resort village issued a municipal order water ban. This means that anyone found irrigating (watering) their lawn will be subject to having their water turned off for the weekend. The resident will then need to make an appointment to have it turned back on, with applicable fees (fines).
Beyond the obvious implications, such as having less water for drinking, cooking and cleaning, and less time for other activities due to needing to fetch water, there are other consequences affecting the health and well-being of individuals, families, communities and society. The extent to which gaps in water access can disrupt lives and livelihoods is the subject of inquiry for Gervin Ane Apatinga, researcher and PhD candidate, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Saskatchewan (USask).
The Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO) announced late Friday night that the Kalamalka Lake water source has been turned off effective immediately due to increased turbidity. Customers of Greater Vernon Water (GVW) will be affected by this. The RDNO said the decision to remove the Kalamalka Lake water source was based on increased turbidity at the drinking water system intake.
An Australian coal company is withdrawing its plan for a mine in the Crowsnest Pass region of the eastern slopes of Alberta's Rocky Mountains. "The coal mine, in our minds, is a no-go," said Peter Doyle, CEO of Montem Resources, which had proposed to redevelop the Tent Mountain site to produce steelmaking coal. In a letter filed Tuesday, Montem Resources asked the Alberta Energy Regulator to end the environmental impact assessment for the proposal.
Kurtis Anderson says the water at his home in Regina's south end smells and tastes terrible. "It really just kind of smells like soil, like organic matter," he said in an interview on Friday. The problem, which began a few weeks ago, is not just limited to drinking water. His family's clothes have the same cloying smell after being run through the wash, their dishes appear to be coated in something and even the water in the shower reeks. "It seems to come and go a little bit, but there's times where it's really bad," Anderson said. The problem isn't coming from inside their home. It's coming from the water source.
A B.C. mom says she's afraid to bathe her and her partner's four kids at home. Instead, they opted to wash in lakes and rivers near their residence in Hudson's Hope, west of Fort St John, this summer. Not satisfied to wait for solutions, Caitlin Vince, 37, helped found the Hudson's Hope Water Recovery Committee to address the ongoing issues with the town's tap water brought on by the construction of B.C. Hydro's Site C dam.
Leaky pipes, a water source that's depleting, and climate change threatening the whole fragile system. The town of Small Point-Broad Cove-Blackhead-Adam's Cove has unique challenges with its water system, but the big picture looks all too familiar in small towns throughout the province. Most mornings, longtime municipal worker Mike Hurley starts his day by checking the wells. The town's water system is composed of a series of wells, bringing water from deep underground to nearby houses through plastic pipes. Hurley has his hands full battling leaks and mechanical breakdowns, but there are some problems he can't fix.
The Dauphin City Council met for their first meeting in over a month tonight. City Manager Sharla Griffiths spoke about a trip that three city employees took with Parks Canada, to the site of Edwards Lake and Edwards Creek, where the City of Dauphin gets its water. Griffiths says the city has been using the water source for over 90 years, and since the formation of Riding Mountain National Park has been working with Parks Canada on the project. The City and Parks Canada are currently working on a new agreement about the use of the water, as the original agreement has expired.
A 72-year-old volunteer with the "Rock the Park" music festival says she quit in disgust after learning the only source of water at the July concert series in London's Harris Park would be bottled water sold at $5 apiece, a practice she says is akin to gouging people for their basic human rights. The four-day music festival will take place from July 13 to 17 in Harris Park this year. It comes after after a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tickets are $90 and this year's show features big name acts such as Alanis Morrisette, Garbage and the Crash Test Dummies, among others.
The Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO) is alerting customers of Greater Vernon Water (GVW) that the Kalamalka Lake water source has been turned off effective today, Wednesday, May 11. The decision was based on increased turbidity due to rain and spring run-off in the Coldstream Creek watershed. Water will be supplied from the Duteau Creek Water Treatment Plant until turbidity decreases in Kalamalka Lake. Customers who are not normally on the Duteau Creek water source will notice the water is much softer and has a low alkalinity and pH. This may be of interest to those customers who have in-home water treatment systems or aquariums.
“The river is very important to the Piikani Nation,” Piikani Nation Councilor, Riel Houle said. “We understand the downstream impacts of farmers and other people who need access to the water but (we also) get very protective of our river. It’s sacred to us.” Houle says the act of defiance was carefully considered. Twenty years after a water rights agreement was signed between the Piikani and the federal and provincial governments, Houle says a lot has changed. For one, the diversion weir on Piikani land is aging and planning for new infrastructure is underway.
Homes in Sachs Harbour are once again getting water deliveries after the community went without for over a week, and some households had to rely on bottled water and other sources of potable water. On March 23, after signs of fuel contamination were found in some trucked water, people in the community were asked to switch to bottled water and other sources if they'd had a water delivery since March 21.
Nunavut MP Lori Idlout is calling for $180 million from the federal government to “end the water emergency in Iqaluit.” The government should “fix an issue of basic human rights … as the federal government would for any other major Canadian city,” Idlout wrote in a Friday letter to federal Infrastructure and Communities Minister Dominic LeBlanc. Idlout didn’t say exactly what the money would be used for, but mentioned Mayor Kenny Bell’s recent statements that the city needs a new water source and treatment plant.
The spring break up has prompted a boil water advisory in Hay River, Enterprise, Kakisa and K'atl'odeeche First Nation. Public health is asking residents in these communities to boil their water for at least one minute before drinking it, because of an increase of muddy water caused by the spring breakup. "This advisory is precautionary in nature, and is due to a reoccurrence of higher than normal turbidity," said a statement from the Chief Environmental Health Officer late Sunday afternoon.
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?"
