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.
On a clear crisp morning in northern Manitoba, John Henderson III and Drayden Jobb launch a single-engine boat from the Conawapa boat launch in Gilliam into the waters of the Nelson River, to pull the net they set overnight to catch sturgeon. The two young men, both in their 20s, are from the Fox Lake Cree Nation, whose people have been hunting alongside the river and fishing it for generations. "The mighty Nelson," Jobb says as the boat makes its way from shore.
Perched over a harbour across from the bright lights of Vancouver’s city centre, a massive new residential development is pushing the boundaries of what it means to be climate resilient. The development, called North Harbour, is being built by developer Concert Properties in North Vancouver to a set of novel standards that will mitigate against sea level rise and storm surge.
Durham regional council has repealed a controversial policy which changed the way home sewer lines are maintained and repaired. Council voted Wednesday to undo the changes. Regional staff will once again be responsible for repairing sanitary sewer service connections on private property (up to one metre away from a home’s foundation).
The region is being directed to reimburse customers who paid for their own repairs.
A regional sewer system bylaw was changed in April 2022, making homeowners responsible (at the time) for the portion of each line that runs through their property.
As extreme weather events such as forest fires and floods become more severe and common thanks to the effects of climate change, experts say that could result in more expensive home insurance in the long term. Morgan Roberts, insurance sales director at Ratehub.ca, says the increasing frequency of claims means that insurance companies could try to implement more premium hikes.
Point-of-use (POU) dispensers, referring to those directly connected to the water supply lines, are widely used in public facilities such as schools and universities in Taiwan. These dispensers are equipped with filters that can remove contaminants, including heavy metals in drinking water. Assessment of water lead (Pb) levels rely heavily on sampling surveys that involve various sampling protocols. This study evaluated the effects of using first draw (FD), flush (FL) incorporating at least 20 s of flushing, and random daytime (RDT) sampling protocols on Pb level assessment in water samples collected from faucets and POU dispensers of a Pb pipe-free campus between March 2017 and July 2020. This was the first study to examine the influence of POU dispensers on different sampling protocols and their survey results. Pb levels in 19% of faucet and 11% of dispenser samples exceeded the Taiwan EPA standard of 10 μg/L. FL sampling produced the lowest Pb levels, followed by RDT and FD in the samples collected from faucets. Interestingly, all three sampling protocols exhibited similar Pb levels in samples collected from dispensers. Thus, any of the three sampling protocols can be employed to monitor Pb levels in water samples collected from dispensers.
Residents in Rouleau and Wilcox and surrounding rural municipalities can enjoy clean, quality drinking water now that construction of a new water treatment plant is finished. More than a dozen people — including both mayors, municipal officials, provincial dignitaries, and project contractors — gathered in Rouleau on Sept. 28 for a grand opening ceremony to celebrate the $10.6 million regional water system project.
Drought and water scarcity continues to affect the west coast, south coast and northeastern areas of B.C. that have experienced little to no rainfall over the past five weeks with continued dry weather in the forecast. Areas under Drought Level 4 include the Fort Nelson basin, the Sunshine Coast basin, Lower Mainland basin, and the east and west Vancouver Island basins. At Drought Level 4, conditions are extremely dry and adverse effects to socio-economic or ecosystem values are likely.
What may be the broadest and longest study to date has found Canada's Arctic Ocean is growing more acidic up to four times faster than any other sea on the planet. The acidification, linked to the loss of sea ice, will have unknown repercussions for the life in those waters, said Wei-Jun Cai, an oceanographer at the University of Delaware and co-author of the study in the journal Science.
The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear appeals from parties who support approval of an open-pit coal mine in southwest Alberta. A review panel had concluded the likely effects of the proposed Grassy Mountain coal mine on fish and water quality outweighed the economic benefits. As a result, Alberta's regulatory agency denied Benga Mining's permit applications.
Leaky pipes, a water source that's depleting, and climate change threatening the whole fragile system. The town of Small Point-Broad Cove-Blackhead-Adam's Cove has unique challenges with its water system, but the big picture looks all too familiar in small towns throughout the province. Most mornings, longtime municipal worker Mike Hurley starts his day by checking the wells. The town's water system is composed of a series of wells, bringing water from deep underground to nearby houses through plastic pipes. Hurley has his hands full battling leaks and mechanical breakdowns, but there are some problems he can't fix.
Little to no rainfall over the past five weeks in several areas of British Columbia has prompted a warning from the Ministry of Forests about drought. The ministry says Vancouver Island, the inner south coast and the northeast corner of the provincehave reached the second-most severe level of drought on a five-point rating scale. A statement from the ministry says those regions are ranked at Drought Level 4, meaning conditions are extremely dry and will likely have unfavourable impacts on everything from jobs to ecosystems.
Abbotsford’s dikes are in a better position than last year when atmospheric rivers deluged the Lower Mainland-U.S. border area, flooding Abbotsford’s Sumas Prairie, said Mayor Henry Braun, but the area is still highly vulnerable. It needs both a short-term fix and long-term $800 million pumping station to be built as soon as possible. The city wants to see the proposed pumping station uncoupled from its $2.8 billion approved multi-phase flood mitigation plan that will enable more water to be pumped away from valued agricultural land that was flooded when the U.S. based Nooksack River overflowed.
Dozens of employees at primary and secondary schools in Nunavik are sounding the alarm about the region's deteriorating water supply, saying the situation is putting their students at risk, a union report seen by Radio-Canada shows. Thirteen of the 14 towns in Nunavik don't have an aqueduct or sewer system. People there normally rely on tanker trucks to supply drinking water and remove wastewater. But in recent months there have been supply interruptions because of broken infrastructure, a lack of trucks and a worker shortage, problems that were worsened by the pandemic and a harsh winter last year.
Federal and provincial politicians in New Brunswick agree something needs to be done to address a lack of insurance coverage for residences and businesses in flood zones, but they seem to differ on whether secondary homes and future builds deserve their intervention. Premier Blaine Higgs and federal Infrastructure Minister Dominic LeBlanc were commenting in the wake of damage to properties along the east coast during post-tropical storm Fiona. According to Higgs, damage to about 100 properties has been reported in New Brunswick.
Abbotsford’s dikes are in a better position than last year when atmospheric rivers deluged the Lower Mainland-U.S. border area, flooding Abbotsford’s Sumas Prairie, said Mayor Henry Braun, but the area is still highly vulnerable. It needs both a short-term fix and long-term $800 million pumping station to be built as soon as possible. The city wants to see the proposed pumping station uncoupled from its $2.8 billion approved multi-phase flood mitigation plan that will enable more water to be pumped away from valued agricultural land that was flooded when the U.S. based Nooksack River overflowed.
The construction of a weir on the Endako River has received authorization from the Department of Oceans Canada (DFO) and is now awaiting provincial approvals, said a representative from Upper Fraser Fisheries Conservation Alliance (UFFCA). DFO issued the authorization on July 7 and the province’s permitting is ongoing and expected next year, said Lisa Krebbs who is managing the project on behalf of UFFCA.
A team working to address environmental and health effects from a former gold mine outside Yellowknife has provided an update on the effort to clean up one of the most contaminated places in Canada. The Giant Mine Remediation Project, co-managed by the Canadian and Northwest Territories governments, is expected to take until 2038 to complete. Arsenic trioxide waste stored underground is anticipated to require perpetual maintenance.
If First Nation communities want to be ready for tomorrow's climate change challenges, don't wait on help or support from the government, says the former chief in British Columbia. Patrick Michell was at the National Climate Gathering of the Assembly of First Nations in Fredericton to share what he considers the success story of his community. It "broke dependency," he said, by creating its own revenue streams and arriving at a place where it expects to be water and food secure for the next 100 years.
Last week, Waabnoong Bemjiwang Association of First Nations (WBAFN), Gezhtoojig Employment & Training, Anishinabek Nation, and Water First Education & Training Inc. celebrated the graduation of 14 interns from the Georgian Bay Drinking Water Internship Program. This program is a paid internship that recruits young Indigenous adults to the drinking water field, and helps them obtain entry-level certifications required to begin their careers in water treatment. Having qualified, local personnel also supports communities in having access to safe, clean drinking water for the long-term.
The Parkland College, Yorkton Tribal Council and Indigenous Services Canada have teamed together to bring a water and wastewater operators course to Indigenous communities. The 19-week course is called, Intro to Water Operators. The course is aimed to provide foundational training in the field of water treatment. It’s a hybrid of both in-person math classes and online classes taught by ATAP Infrastructure Management Ltd., which specializes in water treatment courses.
