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 Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) has closed Chocolate Lake Beach for swimming after confirming high levels of bacteria in the water. In a news release, HRM said recent test shows bacteria levels at the beach exceed Health Canada’s swimming guidelines. The beach is closed for swimming until further notice. However, HRM staff will continue testing the water until bacteria levels return to safe levels and will notify the public.
Drinking water quality remains a persistent challenge across regional and remote Australia. We reviewed public reporting by 177 utilities and conducted a national assessment of reported exceedances against the health-based and aesthetic guideline values of the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG). Four definitions of a basic level of drinking water quality were tested to quantify service gaps across regional and remote areas of each subnational jurisdiction in 2018–2019. At least 25,245 people across 99 locations with populations <1000 reportedly accessed water services that did not comply with health-based guideline values. Including larger towns and water systems, the estimated service gap rises to at least 194,572 people across more than 115 locations. Considering health parameters and the ADWG definition of ‘good’ aesthetic characteristics, the reported service gap rises further to at least 627,736 people across 408 locations.
Construction has officially begun on the $325.6-million Buffalo Pound water treatment plant renewal project. A number of MLAs, mayors, board members, employees and more were in attendance for the first shovels hitting the ground in Buffalo Pound Monday. The plant will serve communities such as Regina, Moose Jaw, Grand Coulee, Pense, Bethune and several other communities with clean drinking water. In total, more than 260,000 people in the area will access the water. “This treatment plant has served the residents of Regina and Moose Jaw with safe, high-quality drinking water and frankly we don’t exist without it,” said Regina Mayor Sandra Masters.
Vast swathes of land south of Rome were boggy swamps for thousands of years until a monumental drainage programme in the 1930s turned malaria-infested marshes into prime agricultural fields. Fast forward 90 years and, where water was once abundant, now it is growing scarce as one of the worst droughts in living memory fuelled by weeks of scorching temperatures has drastically reduced the flow of local springs. But ageing infrastructure and leaky pipes are exacerbating an already disastrous situation, with much precious water vanishing down the drain before it even reaches the taps.
Areas of southern Saskatchewan were inundated with rainfall Monday night. The City of Regina said Tuesday that that 40 to 60 mm of precipitation fell in a "significant rainstorm event." The rainfall had major impacts on underpasses and intersections, causing flooding and road closures. Kurtis Doney, the city's director of water, waste, and environment, said that despite some difficulty motorists had in getting around the city after the rain, the city's infrastructure was holding up. "The flooding will clear as the system allows it to," said Doney. "There may still be some localized areas that need to be addressed because of what storm drains. But in general, 24 hours is what the storm system typically takes to recover."
Halifax Water is advising people not to swim or to do anything that requires contacting the water in Halifax harbour until further notice. On Tuesday, the utility said the failure of an emergency pump is the cause of stormwater and wastewater flowing into the harbour. "We would strongly advise residents to not go swimming or participate in any recreational activities that require water contact ... just to be on the safe side," said Jeff Myrick, a spokesperson for Halifax Water.
Halifax Regional Municipality is warning residents that Chocolate Lake beach is closed due to high levels of bacteria in the water. Officials say the beach is closed to swimming until further notice. Recent municipal testing shows levels of bacteria in the water exceeding Health Canada swimming guidelines. Officials say high bacteria levels can be caused by a variety of factors, including dogs, birds, other wildlife and high temperatures.
The rain kept coming down as Mike Ledarney was already pumping water out of his basement in Teulon on Tuesday. The resident of the Manitoba town, about 60 kilometres north of Winnipeg, said he came home early from work after his sister called to break the news that his basement was flooding. By the time he got back, his dad had a sump pump running, but there was already about 30 centimetres of water in the basement. "It's obviously a lot of stress … having to deal with that, and not knowing always in certainty … what's going to happen next," Ledarney said outside his house later in the day.
The recently completed pipeline extension to Tottenham has brought major improvements to the community’s drinking water, the Town of New Tecumseth reports. The town said testing performed following the pipeline’s activation June 1 showed levels of trihalomethanes (THMs) reduced by about 50 per cent from May. The annual running average has dropped to 82.7 micrograms per litre (µg/l), and the town says this level is expected to decrease further as the pipeline continues to be used. THMs are a byproduct of the chlorination process and, according to Health Canada, have been linked in some studies to potential health risks, like an increased risk of cancer following long-term exposure at high levels.
Mayoral candidate Rana Bokhari promises to spend more money replacing combined sewers in Winnipeg. Bokhari pledged Monday to increase annual spending on replacing combined sewers with dedicated pipes for sewage and stormwater from $45 million every year to $60 million. Combined sewers, which lie below older parts of Winnipeg, carry both runoff from the surface and sewage from homes and businesses. This mixture is pumped to one of the city's three wastewater treatment plants. When heavy rains exceed the capacity of city pumps, rainwater-diluted sewage overflows into the city's rivers. That, in turn, results in more nutrients — primarily phosphorus and nitrogen — flowing through Red River into Lake Winnipeg, where they promote the growth of algae and alter the ecology of the lake.
As London enters its third heat warning of the year, the Upper Thames Valley watershed is facing a low water situation due to a lack of rainfall. The lack of rain has prompted a level one low water situation with the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority. Between June 15 and July 15, the watershed only received 17mm of rain — a mere 22 per cent of what is considered normal precipitation levels for that time of year.
Primo Water Corporation (NYSE: PRMW) (TSX: PRMW) (the "Company" or "Primo"), a leading provider of sustainable drinking water solutions in North America and Europe, today announced that Primo Water North America ("PWNA"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Primo, has acquired Highland Mountain Water, located in Atlanta, Georgia. Highland Mountain Water is a leading independent distributor of Primo's Mountain Valley® premium water brand.
Kinap Beach in Porters Lake is reopened for public swimming after it was recently closed because tests showed high levels of bacteria in the water. Swimming was prohibited at the beach after testing Saturday indicated high bacteria levels exceeding Health Canada guidelines. Halifax Regional Municipality said in a news release that follow-up testing showed the water is again safe, in line with Health Canada guidelines.
Winnipeg mayoral candidate Rana Bokhari wants to speed up the North End Water Treatment Plant upgrades as well as provide more money to the Combined Sewer Overflow Plan if elected this fall. Speaking to reporters outside the North End plant on Monday, Bokhari said that she aims to have upgrades to the facility completed by 2033, 12 years ahead of schedule. Bokhari would also up the spending on the Combined Sewer Overflow Plan to $60 million a year. She commended the city for upping its budget from $30 million a year to $45 million. Bokhari says she would work with the province and federal governments to match that.
Residents in Kingston, Ont. are enjoying reusable water bottles more than almost any other city in Canada, new numbers show. The Statistics Canada Households and the Environment Survey released on Monday finds 95 per cent of households in Kingston use reusable water bottles, the second highest in the country. Lethbridge, Alta. leads the way in using reusable water bottles in Canada, with 97 per cant of households having at least one person using their own water bottle. St. Catharines-Niagara and Peterborough had the lowest use of reusable water bottle usage, at 85 and 84 per cent respectively.
Several areas of southeast Saskatchewan were ravaged by storms that toppled trees and grain towers this weekend, while others were hammered by hail and heat waves. "It started with some rain, then the rain progressively got heavier and it just went pitch black outside," said Brooke Hein, a resident of Wapella, Sask., located about 190 kilometres east of Regina. "The rain was like waves hitting our windows and the only time you could see anything outside was when the lightning flashed and you just saw trees bending," she said.
Halifax Regional Municipality has closed two supervised beaches to swimming until further notice because of high bacteria levels in the water. The municipality announced Saturday that bacteria levels at Kinap Beach in Porters Lake exceed Health Canada’s swimming guidelines. Friday evening, the municipality issued a news release saying Penhorn Lake Beach in Dartmouth had been closed. HRM regularly tests the water quality at all supervised municipal beaches, as well as two unsupervised beaches, during the summer.
I am completely confused about why our government cannot provide clean water for the Indigenous communities in the north and elsewhere in Canada. This necessary resource is monitored diligently throughout our country so why can we not provide these families with purification equipment and the proper training to maintain and repair the systems as required. This seems like a small service that can be easily provided to our Indigenous communities and there appears to be zero reason why our stagnant peace-time military engineers cannot provide a viable solution to this issue.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority has issued a blue-green algae warning for Little Manitou Lake. In a statement issued Friday, the SHA says people and pets should stay out of the water where the algae — which can cause rashes or other skin irritation, sore red eyes, fever, nausea and vomiting and/or diarrhea — is present. "Symptoms usually appear within one to three hours and resolve in one to two days. Symptoms in children are often more pronounced; however, all humans are at risk of these symptoms," the SHA statement reads.
In early winter, Tlingit trappers near Teslin, Yukon, observed something out on the land that stoked serious concern: the snow was unusually deep. Before long, they relayed the message to the Teslin Tlingit Council. "They said we're going to have a problem here with flooding," said Chief Eric Morris. "They couldn't even get to their traplines." Fast forward to June and a flood warning was issued for the community, followed by an evacuation alert for certain parts of it. The water rose so high it surpassed last year's record-breaking flood levels by roughly one metre.
