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.
People living in Iqaluit are being reminded to conserve water as the city continues to deal with a water shortage that first reached emergency levels back in 2018. Amy Elgersma, Iqaluit's chief administrative officer, told Nipivut host Mary Oblibuk Tatty this past week that water levels at Lake Geraldine, the reservoir for the city's potable water, are lower than the city would like them to be. There are three reasons why, she said.
The forecast may be improving in Minnedosa, but that doesn't mean people in the flooded southwestern Manitoba town can let their guards down just yet. "The big rain is behind us. Not time to get complacent, though," Jim Doppler, the town's chief administrative officer, told host Marcy Markusa on CBC's Information Radio Friday morning. People in Minnedosa were frantically sandbagging and pumping water throughout a downpour Thursday, as the Little Saskatchewan River inched higher.
A remote First Nation in northwestern Ontario is still working to recover from "unprecedented water levels" coming from the Pikangikum Lake, according to an emergency management official with the community. Major infrastructure and the main source of drinking water in Pikangikum were threatened by the rising water earlier this week, and the sole road to the northern store — the only place community members can purchase food and gas — was covered with water. The remote First Nation has about 3,000 residents and is located 500 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont.
The Great Lakes cover nearly 95,000 square miles (250,000 square kilometers) and hold over 20% of Earth's surface fresh water. More than 30 million people in the U.S. and Canada rely on them for drinking water. The lakes support a multibillion-dollar maritime economy, and the lands around them provided many of the raw materials—timber, coal, iron—that fueled the Midwest's emergence as an industrial heartland.
Residents are worried about a potential increase of E. coli because the City of Ottawa won't install wires to prevent birds at Britannia and Mooney's Bay beaches this season. The wires were installed three metres above sections of those beaches a number of years ago to help prevent the congregation of gulls, which are linked to driving up E. coli counts in nearby water. The city said the wires will not go up this summer as it searches for other ways to manage seagulls and other birds.
The flooding situation in northwestern Ontario is likely only going to get worse before it gets better, after weeks of record rainfall in the region and more rain in the forecast this weekend. The Lake of the Woods control board is warning of hazardous flows throughout the entire Winnipeg River drainage basin, which includes areas of Ontario, Manitoba and Minnesota. This comes after seven weeks of record rainfall for some areas, on top of a thick snowpack in the region leftover from the winter months. Communities across Canada have reported significant flooding this spring, including in the Northwest Territories, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northern Ontario.
Water levels are being monitored Thursday morning in the Quebec City area after Environment Canada issued another storm surge warning for several areas. Environment Canada warns that higher than normal water levels will be observed between 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. as large waves could form near the coast. The storm surge warning affects the Bellechasse, Côte-de-Beaupré--L'Île d'Orléans, Lévis and Quebec City areas.
As the snow pillows in the mountains above the Red Deer River basin begin to melt in May and June, feeding the Red Deer River and its tributaries, the annual fill cycle of the Gleniffer Reservoir begins. Water from the Red Deer River basin will flow into the Gleniffer Reservoir to be captured and stored, and released into the Red Deer River watershed via the Dickson Dam located approximately 180 kilometres northwest of the Town of Drumheller.
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Microplastics were found in 83.3 percent of Lake Huron water samples collected by Coast Watchers in 2021. Coast Watchers is a program of the Lake Huron Coastal Centre (LHCC) and has been in operation since 2005, analzying water samples for microplastics since 2018. That first year they found microplastics in 95.7 percent of the samples collected. The trend is not generally going down, said Alyssa Bourassa, coastal stewardship technician at the Centre.
About 60 per cent of young trees planted as part of a green initiative in Montréal-Nord died because the borough didn't properly water them, according to the city's auditor general. The trees were part of the city's Un enfant, un arbre (One child, one tree) initiative, which began in 2013. Citizens can apply to have a tree planted in their neighbourhood to celebrate the birth or adoption of a child. The report, released Tuesday, said "a lack of sufficient watering" meant that 60 per cent of those trees, planted in public spaces in Montréal-Nord, died, representing "a loss of both investment and benefits to the ecosystem."
The discovery of an unused drilled well at the NSCC Shelburne Campus on the Lake John Road could possibly serve as a water resource for the community. “The Shelburne Campus well water has the potential to serve as a community water supply," reads an NSCC Shelburne Campus Community Well Project proposal presented to Shelburne Municipal Council on May 11 by SEED (South End Environmental Injustice Society) volunteers Louise Lindsay and Louise Delilse.
Climate change is happening on Manitoulin and impacts riparian zones, those strips of moisture-loving vegetation that grow along the edge of natural water bodies, especially if those areas have already been impacted by agriculture and development. Revegetating riparian zones helps to mitigate those impacts. Liam Campbell is an environmental technologist with Manitoulin Streams. He began working with the organization in 2018 after earning his BSc. in Environmental Science from Carleton University. He graduated with honours from Algonquin College’s Environmental Management and Assessment post-graduate program in 2020. Manitoulin Streams works in partnership with townships and different communities all over the Island to improve critical habitat and in-stream riparian areas.
Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) granted an initial approval on Wednesday for a Tokyo Electric Power's (Tepco) plan for releasing water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant into sea, citing there are no safety issues. The NRA plans to make a decision on final approval after a one-month public comment period, an official at NRA said, who deals with the issue.
A northwestern Ontario First Nation that was under a boil-water advisory for 24 years has received this year's award for building the province's best small drinking water system. The Ontario Public Works Association presented the 2022 Public Works Project of the Year for Small Municipalities and First Nations award to Shoal Lake #40 First Nation, at a ceremony in Mississauga, Ont., Tuesday. The award recognizes the new Shoal Lake #40 water treatment plant as having uniquely provided opportunities for local procurement and employment.
Canadians living in the Great Lakes basin have perhaps become spoiled at the seemingly endless availability of water. In taking it for granted, topics like the material cost of it or the amount listed on someone’s water bill can be seen as immaterial and unnecessary to discuss. But in many respects, water is also a fairly traditional resource commodity, one that governments have invested billions in maintaining. There’s a cost to all this, and not just for the liquid itself.
The Regional District of Nanaimo received $931,000 in grant funding for phase two of the Whiskey Creek Water Supply Upgrade project. The regional district will install a transmission main from the existing well to the reservoir to replace the temporary overland main, modernize the distribution pumping and control system and install backup power. When phase two of the project is complete later this year, the Whiskey Creek Water Service Area will have a secure, permanent and resilient water system.
The Blue Mountains council wants more information before it will consider assuming ownership of a privately owned water system. At its committee of the whole meeting on May 16, council voted to get more information about the East Ridge water distribution system before it makes a decision about whether or not to assume ownership of the private water system.
Cheryl Cli’s house is so new, it’s still in the packaging. The modular build sits on a muddy lot on safe, high ground about five minutes outside of Fort Simpson, N.W.T. Some of the industrial plastic is ripped away, revealing its cherry red siding. On this April day, the air smells of meat and veggies cooking over an open fire. Cli is having a cookout with friends and family to “claim” the lot. Earlier in the week, she noticed some firewood had been taken. “It’s OK, they probably needed it,” she says.
Authorities are keeping an eye on a number of rivers at risk of flooding in the Upper Saint-Maurice and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean regions on Tuesday. One of these rivers, the Ashuapmushuan river, was already overflowing Tuesday morning. Girardville, a town on the north side of the lake, also experienced some minor flooding after a small creek spilled over onto some of its main streets.
