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.
About 600 east Saint John homes and businesses are under a boil water after a 53-year-old water main broke. The break in the 250-millimetre (roughly 10-inch) cast iron water main on Hickey Road, near On the Vine Meat & Produce, was discovered "late Friday evening into early Saturday morning," said city spokesperson Nathalie Logan. It left area residents without any water for about 14 hours, according to Logan.
Iqaluit has just completed an investigation into its worst water contamination crisis. Last fall, fuel leaked into the water supply leaving it undrinkable for two months. Then in January, a different source contaminated the water again. Heather Yourex-West reports on the cause and concerns about clean drinking water in Canada’s northernmost city.
Jacques Courcelles still vividly recalls his parents' refrigerator floating in the kitchen, anchored like a boat, its cord still attached to the wall outlet under water. "My parents had water over top of the kitchen counters. The air in the fridge was what was making the fridge float," he said, his mind flashing back to April 30, 1997, when the community of Ste. Agathe was first to fall to the Flood of the Century.
Residents of a small community on the shore of Shuswap Lake have been advised to boil their water before use. The Columbia-Shuswap Regional District issued the boil-water notice for users of the Sorrento Water System on Friday evening, citing elevated turbidity in the water. The water system serves properties in the unincorporated community of Sorrento, about 25 kilometres west of Salmon Arm and 75 kilometres east of Kamloops along the Trans-Canada Highway.
Last summer, three Metro Vancouver beaches were closed to swimmers after high levels of E. coli were detected in the water. And this is a pretty common occurrence. Almost every year, beaches, lakes, and other water bodies are closed to swimming across Canada because there is fecal matter mixed into the water. Our poop! So how did that poop get there? Well, it's because of something called the combined sewer and stormwater system.
The Milk River looks great right now, according to farmer Elise Walker. It's high, it's flowing and it's fairly clean. For now, she and about 30 to 40 other families in southern Alberta can continue using the water to irrigate their farms, helping to get them through a very dry spring. In fact, Walker already started to irrigate her 607 hectares (1,500 acres) of land at the end of March — the earliest ever.
On Thursday, Iqaluit city councillors heard a report from consultants who explained just how an aging fuel tank contaminated the city's water supply, and what steps it needed to take to fix the problem. Ian Moran, a water treatment process design engineer with WSP engineering firm, explained how the WSP team worked to find the "fingerprint" of petroleum hydrocarbons detected in October and again in January. The City of Iqaluit hired the firm in October, when Iqaluit residents reported a strong fuel smell in their drinking water. A state of emergency stemming from undrinkable tap water was declared Oct. 12, and would go on to last nearly two months. Five weeks later, residents again reported smelling fuel in the water, leading to a nine-day boil water advisory.
An expert who studies landslides says last Saturday's incident in Whitehorse wasn't the first and likely won't be the last. John Clague is a retired professor of earth sciences at Simon Fraser University who specializes in geological hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides and floods. He saw pictures of the landslide and said he was surprised at the amount of water that was in the sliding material. He was also surprised by how far it went, crossing Robert Service Way, the Millennium Trail and spilling into the Yukon River.
Even though northwestern Ontario is drying up after a wet start to spring, officials are still watching the watersheds for potential flood risks. Lakehead Region Conservation Authority in Thunder Bay has downgraded its outlook from a flood watch to a conditions statement after area rivers and streams have reached their peak earlier this week. Still it's too early for people to let their guard down.
While Canada geese are a national symbol, the animals can cause a lot of problems for the cities they reside in, leaving officials grappling to find solutions to mitigate their populations. In recent decades, B.C.-based urban biodiversity planner Jennifer Rae Pierce says Canada geese have been derided as urban pests, overrunning new habitats across North America, especially in cities.
Last spring, when Lucy Simon walked into her family home and business after the flood waters in Jean Marie River First Nation receded, she started to cry. "We lost everything," she told CBC News on Friday. "The most important thing to me that I lost dearly is that the water went over my parents grave and my kids' baby pictures." She also lost freezers full of meat. Simon ran Lucy's Bed and Breakfast, a place where she provided traditional foods to guests. But she will not be continuing the business when the home is repaired. She's currently living in a trailer that she said is nice, but a small space for all her art supplies that her husband will occasionally trip over.
Eddy Smart Home Solutions Ltd. ("Eddy") (TSXV: EDY) announced today the successful closing of the previously announced acquisition on March 25, 2022 of all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Reed Controls Inc. (dba Reed Water) ("Reed"). The total purchase price for the Transaction was C$7,359,600. The purchase price was paid in common shares of Eddy at a per share price of $0.60 per share, with 12,266,000 shares being issued (the "Share Consideration"). The Share Consideration is subject to a twenty-four (24) month lock-up period, provided that the Share Consideration will be released from the lock-up requirements on the first business day following each of the four, six, nine, twelve, fifteen, eighteen and twenty-one month anniversaries of the closing date, and such other terms, as may be imposed by the TSXV. The Share Consideration will also be subject to a statutory four month hold period.
About 200 more people left Peguis First Nation on Wednesday and dozens of workers poured into the community as floodwaters continued to threaten it and other areas of Manitoba. The Fisher River had come up a little overnight before appearing to stabilize, but the rise left more homes surrounded by water or with water inside, Chief Glenn Hudson said.
The New Brunswick government is seeking environmental approval from itself to dredge a channel and lagoon behind Parlee Beach to improve drainage. The Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture, which operates Parlee Beach Provincial Park, filed an environmental impact assessment document that lays out its plans in Pointe-du-Chêne.
Even the smallest drop can help make waves. A delegation from Dan Travers of the Canadian Museum of Water/Musée canadien de l’eau (CMW-MCE), a recently launched initiative by locals intent on offering the history of the planet’s most precious resource through Port McNicoll, was presented to Tay council at a recent regular meeting. “There are physical assets that make Port McNicoll the right choice,” explained Travers.
Tiny is waiting for a study to reveal if and how the water tables have turned. At a recent committee of the whole meeting, Tiny council discussed a previous deputation by David Jeffrey, who represented the Reform Gravel Mining Coalition, in regards to council’s support of a temporary moratorium on further new and expansion of aggregate permits. Last month, Jeffrey shared information and a presentation to Tiny regarding the impacts of gravel mining and its relation to climate change across the province. Part of Jeffery’s research included a look at the online pits and quarries interactive map provided by the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry (NDMNRF).
While communities in southern Manitoba battle flooding from the Red and Assiniboine rivers, people in the Interlake region are scrambling to save their homes from rising waters. Overland flooding from the Icelandic River, which runs into Lake Winnipeg, has washed out many roads and drenched fields in the municipality of Bifrost-Riverton. That municipality includes the community of Riverton and numerous hamlets, and surrounds the town of Arborg, about 100 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
Saskatoon's per capita water consumption is just over half what it was in 1980 — but there is still a risk that the water treatment plant's capacity will need to be expanded sooner if the city doesn't cut water use, according to an administration report. The City of Saskatoon's environment committee was to consider a new Water Conservation Strategy at Monday's meeting. It attributes the per capita decline to several factors including the use of water-efficient fixtures and appliances, the growing awareness of the need for conservation, and the rising cost of water.
The governments of Canada and Prince Edward Island are providing joint funding for two community infrastructure projects to improve water and wastewater infrastructure in the Town of Cornwall, P.E.I. Funding will support the installation of 2,100 metres of new watermains, 18 new fire hydrants and new property services along Main Street. Several hundred metres of the new watermains will be used to expand the water distribution system and provide new services to 13 existing properties which is anticipated to provide increased access to potable water, improved water pressure and greater fire protection to the commercial areas of Main Street, indicates a release.
