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 debate to add fluoride to the city’s drinking water isn’t new for Calgarians but has remained contentious since it was first voted on nearly 70 years ago. Calgary’s civic election is Oct. 18. This will be the seventh time fluoride has been on the ballot in a Calgary municipal election, after being rejected four times between 1957 and 1971, and then approved in 1989 and again in 1998.
This year witnessed one of the hottest and driest summers in recent history for Western Canada and the American Southwest. The resulting droughts adversely affected food supply and helped send meat prices rising three times faster than inflation. Despite the severity of these droughts, the worst may be yet to come. Extreme weather events are expected to become increasingly severe and frequent in the Prairies, with longer dry periods coupled with the risk of floods from intense rainstorms.
A water crisis is looming because of climate change, a new report warns. Floods and droughts are increasingly on the rise, and the number of global citizens facing water scarcity is expected to soar. Meanwhile, management, forecasting, and financial solutions are thought to be gravely “insufficient”. The report, The State of Climate Services 2021: Water, has suggested that by 2050 more than five billion people will have inadequate access to water at least once monthly, up from 3.6 billion in 2018.
The City of Calgary’s upcoming plebiscite on whether or not residents support re-introducing fluoride into the municipality’s drinking water will also have implications in Airdrie. In conjunction with the upcoming municipal election on Oct. 18, voters in Calgary will also answer a plebiscite on whether or not they support the addition of fluoride into their city’s water supply. As Airdrie gets its drinking water from Calgary, the result of the plebiscite will also determine if Airdrie’s water in the future will contain fluoride, according to the City of Airdrie’s manager of community infrastructure, Lorne Stevens. “I know the topic of fluoridation can be quite contentious,” he said. “At the end of the day, we don’t have a team of fluoride researchers or public health experts employed by the City of Airdrie. We rely on the guidance of Health Canada and Alberta Health Services, and both of those entities do recommend fluoridation as a public health measure, focusing on dental health – there’s a whole back story of why that is.”
A new report from the think tank Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) suggests that climate change will exacerbate resource degradation and conflict in various parts of the world. Food insecurity, lack of water and the impact of natural disasters, combined with high population growth, are intensifying conflict and displacing people in vulnerable areas, according to the report’s findings.
To say the Hillcrest Public School third-grader was excited to go to the Oct. 1 home game with his dad would be an bit of an understatement, but that joy quickly turned to sadness and frustration after the pair was forced to leave the game following a complaint they made about the amount of water the youngster received from one of the concession stands. Father and son used to regularly attend games, but this was their first time back to Rogers Centre since prior to the pandemic. “I said to him, ‘Here’s $15 to spend at the game’ and he could spend it however he liked. He wanted to get popcorn and a pop, so we went to the concession,” father Bob Cole tells BarrieToday. “He said he was still thirsty because pop doesn’t really quench your thirst and asked if he could get some water. I told him he wouldn’t have to worry about (not having enough money) because water is free.” Bob says when they asked for a cup filled with water, they didn’t provide much more than four ounces in the large cup, adding he spoke to a manager at the stadium and was told to “take it or leave it” and that "because they sell water on site, they can’t be giving it away for free.”
When Carmela Patton moved into her Benton Harbor home from a nearby apartment complex, she didn’t think twice about turning on the faucet to boil noodles or get a drink. Only late last year, after her pastor recruited her to participate in a water quality sampling program, did she learn the city was in the midst of a water contamination crisis. Water samples from Benton Harbor homes since 2018 consistently revealed elevated levels of lead, a potent neurotoxin that damages the brain and nervous system and is particularly dangerous to young children.
People in communities throughout British Columbia can look forward to better services and improved environmental infrastructure thanks to a $270-million partnership between the provincial and federal governments. “Everyone in British Columbia deserves to have reliable access to clean, safe drinking water, as well as the peace of mind knowing their communities are well equipped to treat and manage wastewater and stormwater,” said Josie Osborne, Minister of Municipal Affairs. “This federal, provincial and local government funding will ensure that communities can continue to build and maintain critical infrastructure that provides the services people count on and protects the environment well into the future.”
An environmental group says an exchange of coal exploration lease applications in Alberta's Rocky Mountains suggests mining companies expect to be able to go ahead with their plans despite a provincial debate on the industry's future. "They wouldn't be buying those lease applications if they didn't think they could do something with them down the road," said Katie Morrison of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.
Another attempt to put a rebate program in place for all low-income households in Regina has failed thanks to a tie vote at executive committee this week. “I’m very frustrated,” Coun. Andrew Stevens (Ward 3) said in an interview Thursday. “It’s going to be increasingly more difficult for us to have credibility when it comes to community wellness, to talk about poverty, anti-poverty initiatives, when we decided on several occasions not to use the levers at our disposal to address these concerns.”
Toronto Fire is investigating an oil leak in Lake Ontario at Sugar Beach near Queens Quay. Emergency crews received the call at around 2:05 p.m., and were alerted about the incident by a caller who reached out to CP24. A fire boat was sent out to investigate. Toronto Fire confirmed there is oil on the water but added it was trying to determine the source of the spill.
The program, now promoted in six Home Depot stores in New York State – Brewster, Nanuet, New Rochelle, Port Chester, West Nyack and Yonkers – encourages its customers to replace outdated fixtures including showerheads, toilets, and smart irrigation controllers with new high-performance models that save water and energy. Customers have redeemed more than 8,000 rebates since the program’s launch in 2017.
Town of Kirkland Lake officials say while the water level of Gull Lake is at an extremely low level, they feel there is nothing to be concerned about. Responding to a question from Councillor Casey Owens, a staff report states “the water level in Gull Lake does fluctuate up to half a meter in a typical year. It is acknowledged that the current level is noticeably lower than usual, however it remains within the operating range established when the Kirkland Lake Water Treatment Plant was first constructed.
The use of disposable face masks as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to more microplastics in waterways, a recent study from Canadian researchers has found. Microplastics are tiny plastic particles that are less than 5 millimetres long and are created through the degradation of discarded plastic-containing products. These particles have been observed polluting various natural ecosystems, particularly aquatic environments.
A city plan to improve water services to Indigenous communities is heading downstream. Barrie city council approved a motion Monday night to consult with Indigenous communities, including the Barrie Native Friendship Centre and the Barrie Area Native Advisory Circle, on the possibility of dedicating 0.2 per cent of its water and wastewater revenue forecast in the 2022 budget toward Water First, and that organization’s efforts to improve water services in First Nations communities.
Delta will soon take part in a gathering of local and indigenous governments south of the Fraser River to see what can be done to improve water quality of the Canadian-US shared waters of Boundary Bay. Members of the Shared Waters Alliance, an international working group made up of representatives from government, First Nations and community groups from both countries, made a presentation to Delta council last week to discuss the ongoing shellfish harvesting closure on the Canadian side due to bacteriological contamination. Indigenous peoples, including the Semiahmoo First Nation, traditionally harvested the abundant fish and shellfish resources for their livelihood. The Alliance’s objectives include, among other things, a collaborative approach to monitoring and facilitating transparent communication among stakeholders to bring action-based objectives that will achieve measurable improvements in local water quality.
Jagmeet Singh is to tell the first meeting of the NDP caucus that pursuing Indigenous rights including access to clean drinking water will be a key priority for the party in this Parliament. The first meeting of all New Democrat MPs since the election will take place in Ottawa on Wednesday afternoon. Five new MPs will be introduced at the caucus meeting, including Blake Desjarlais, a two-spirit Metis leader, who defeated the sitting Tory in Edmonton Griesbach. The NDP returned 25 MPs one more than last time and was the only major party to increase its share of the vote.
Much of the world is unprepared for the floods, hurricanes and droughts expected to worsen with climate change and urgently needs better warning systems to avert water-related disasters, according to a report by the United Nations' weather agency. Global water management is “fragmented and inadequate,” the report published Tuesday found, with nearly 60% of 101 countries surveyed needing improved forecasting systems that can help prevent devastation from severe weather.
In Curve Lake First Nation, illnesses from what’s believed to be related to water quality have been so systemic that some people don’t believe reporting them would make a difference, according to the community’s chief. Emily Whetung, the chief of Curve Lake First Nation — just north of Peterborough, Ont., — said she and her family got sick from what’s believed to be related to bad water about seven or eight years ago.
