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.
A group of residents in Mahone Bay, N.S., say they were blindsided by the location of a new solar garden, and now they're taking the town to court for allegedly failing to consult the public on the project. Heidi Walsh-Sampson said she found out the solar garden would be built on town-owned land beside the sewage treatment plant and adjacent to her home on Main Street when she heard a heavy machine outside her window in January.
Thick walls of grey concrete substructure have begun to rise at the site of the massive North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant in the District of North Vancouver. Slowly, but surely, the facility is taking shape. Activity will ramp up over the summer. Additional equipment is now being brought onsite. Crews will be doing survey and maintenance work, building concrete forms for the complex, and erecting scaffolding.
Local corn has arrived in stores and farmers markets throughout the Hamilton area. And while growing conditions have been less than ideal, producers remain optimistic for another strong season, thanks to some much-needed rain and extra irrigation. Through July 26, Hamilton had received just 56.3 mm of precipitation for the month, compared to 99.1 mm in July 2021.
Canadians are proud of the Great Lakes, and for good reason—they supply two large countries with a lot of fresh drinking water, support irrigation and other agricultural activities, and are crucial in shipping and transportation in the area. Plus, they’re great for sailing, swimming and watching the sunset. “Lakes are great indicators of what’s going on in the watershed,” says Sapna Sharma, an associate aquatic ecology and limnology professor at York University. “They give a good idea of what environmental degradation may be happening on land.”
Conservation Halton is calling on residents to voluntarily reduce their water consumption by 10 per cent due to the dry conditions currently being experienced by the region. In a news release issued on Tuesday, Aug. 2 the local conservation authority noted that between May and July the Halton watershed received 20 per cent less rain than normal for this time of year.
The scientists analyzed the biofilm: the plastics were covered in bacteria, including some known to make us sick. They found pathogenic bacteria responsible for causing urinary tract, skin, and stomach infections, pneumonia, and other illnesses. To make matters worse, these bacteria were also carrying a wide range of genes for antimicrobial resistance. “Plastics that you find in the water are rapidly colonized by bacteria, including pathogens,” says Vos. “And it doesn’t really matter what plastic it is.”
Swimming and other water activities are expected to resume in Charlottetown Harbour on Wednesday, three days after 6,000 cubic metres of untreated sewage was discharged into the water. The leak began Sunday when construction crews on Water Street hit a sewer pipe by mistake, sending enough sewage to fill 2½ Olympic sized swimming pools into the harbour.
Nova Scotia's minister of Environment and Climate Change has approved the Goldboro gold project in Guysborough County, but with conditions. "I am satisfied that any adverse effects or significant environmental effects of the undertaking can be adequately mitigated through compliance with the attached terms and conditions as well as through compliance to the other licences, certificates, permits and approvals that will be required for operation," Tim Halman wrote in his decision to Signal Gold president Kevin Bullock. Signal Gold wants to develop the mine. The project includes two open pits, a processing facility, a tailings management facility, waste rock storage areas, as well as water management infrastructure such as collection ditches, culverts, settling ponds and water treatment systems.
Water from the site of the Minto tire fire is still being collected and treated, more than two years after the fire burned for several days in the village. The Department of Environment and Local Government has previously told CBC News that a number of different contaminants have been found in monitoring wells, including "petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, metals, dioxins and furans," as well as the pollutant perfluorooctanesulfonic acid.
As Nova Scotia nears completion of the long-awaited Coastal Protection Act, some advocates say there's a hidden part of coastal development that has been left out of the legislation. The Coastal Protection Act regulations will set out site-specific horizontal and vertical setbacks that dictate how close private property owners can build to the coast. But the act does not address setbacks for the septic systems and wells associated with those developments, which advocates worry could jeopardize the act's ability to safeguard the shoreline from the impacts of climate change.
Norton has since deleted the original video, but in it, she described “spa water” as a drink made with blended cucumber, water and sugar. In this clip, the user @strawberrryc0ugh reacts to Norton’s video by cringing. “They are now gentrifying agua fresca,” a user said in a stitched video by @itsdonutshole. “They’re calling it spa water.” The cause for the controversy is that spa water is actually just agua fresca, a classic Mexican drink with Aztec origins. Norton’s video received enough criticism for her to remove the clip and apologize. That’s likely because her behavior is not in a vacuum.
Halifax Water is again asking people to stay away from Halifax harbour and flush less. In a news release Sunday night, the utility said a wastewater pump failure is causing "screened but untreated" wastewater to be released into the harbour. "Residents and visitors are strongly advised not to go swimming or participate in recreational activities requiring water contact in Halifax Harbour until further notice," the release said. The utility is asking people living in Larry Uteck, Park West, Clayton Park, Fairview and parts of the west and north ends of Halifax to reduce the amount of water they flush and pour down their drains.
When you head down to a lake in Canada this summer, you might spot more algae covering the surface than usual. This is just one of the scary impacts that our warming planet is having on lakes globally right now, according to a biology professor. It’s part of a pattern that is only going to increase with global warming, John Smol, a professor at Queen’s University, told CTV News Channel, painting a picture of lakes shrinking, others flooding, fish species dying out and algal blooms killing off underwater plants.
During an event earlier this month, writers from four coastal cities — Vancouver, New York, Mumbai and Tokyo — typed out their thoughts about the prospect of rising sea levels. Their words were projected on a large screen in Vancouver's Olympic Village, and a youth choir sang them out to the public. In addition, a photography project on display showed how residents imagine they may be impacted by rising sea levels in and around False Creek. The choir and photography were part of an event marking the end of the first phase of the Sea2City Design Challenge, a City of Vancouver project that aims to look at how the city can adapt to rising sea levels — particularly in the False Creek floodplain — and address the social, economic and ecological impacts coastal flooding will have in the future.
I’ve heard on more than one occasion someone “dad joke” about denial not just being a river in Egypt. Online you’ll find this quote attributed, without further detail, to Mark Twain. However, the earliest evidence of its use, according to Quote Investigator, was in a 1933 U.S. newspaper – 23 years after Twain died. It’s interesting, though not surprising, how the unverified attribution presented as fact is clearly more prevalent on the Internet.
Saskatchewan will be home to the first Indigenous led living lab in Canada. In a media release sent out out Friday the establishment of the Bridge to Land Water Sky was announced. The prject will be led by Mistawasis Nêhiyawak and will also include Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, Saskatchewan Aboriginal Land Technicians, North Saskatchewan River Basin Council, Redberry Lake Biosphere Region, the University of Saskatchewan and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
Mexico declared the water shortage in the northern state of Nuevo Leon a matter of "national security" on Friday as the region, home to Mexico's industrial capital, has been crippled by a worsening drought in recent months. In a declaration issued Friday afternoon, the federal government said available water should be prioritized for public use, and said existing federal water concessions to private companies could be modified or reduced.
After more than a few years of planning and studies, a $295 million, a three-year renewal of the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant in southcentral Saskatchewan is now underway. Construction by the joint venture team of Graham and Aecon, working under a progressive design-build lump sum contract, started in early June and is expected to take until 2025 to complete. The construction phase was preceded by two years of pre-construction and engineering design.
Fifty years ago, Canada and the United States first signed the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, a commitment to work together to restore and protect our shared and increasingly precious resource. Since 1972, the Agreement has been a catalyst for strong regional partnerships and innovative approaches to environmental actions. Today, Environment and Climate Change Canada and the United States Environmental Protection Agency jointly published two reports required under the Agreement: the State of the Great Lakes 2022 Report and the 2022 Progress Report of the Parties.
