Nicole Hancock
Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony ...

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.

Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony to heal Chedoke Creek

Canada and Yukon chart new path with agreement to help protect and conserve nature

Canada and Yukon chart new path with agreement to help protect and conserve nature

Protecting and conserving habitat and species requires collaborating with partners, including Indigenous peoples, all levels of government, industry, and community stakeholders. It calls for transformative change, innovation, and proper accounting for the value of nature across all sectors. The Governments of Canada and Yukon are committed to working together to protect and conserve biodiversity, habitat, and species at risk in the Yukon. This will contribute to the goal of protecting 25 per cent of land and fresh water in Canada by 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030.

Islanders with private wells reminded to get drinking water tested for manganese

Islanders with private wells reminded to get drinking water tested for manganese

Officials on P.E.I. are reminding Islanders with wells to get their drinking water tested regularly — including for manganese. The element is naturally occurring in the environment, and is typically found in swampy areas. Some studies have shown an association between high levels of manganese in drinking water and neurological effects in children, said Ryan Neale, manager of environmental health with the Chief Public Health Office.

Indigenous water walkers and Haudenosaunee Development Institute ask Hamilton to listen amid sewage spill

Indigenous water walkers and Haudenosaunee Development Institute ask Hamilton to listen amid sewage spill

When Kristen Villebrun heard the City of Hamilton recently discovered sewage has been flowing into the harbour for the past 26 years, she was upset. Villebrun said she and other Indigenous water walkers have complained about sewage in the water there for years. "I'm sick of talking and it falling on deaf ears,"said Villebrun, an Anishinaabe woman who is also known as Wassode nibi kwe (Shining Water Woman).

The best Canadian nonfiction of 2022

The best Canadian nonfiction of 2022

Maude Barlow counters the prevailing atmosphere of pessimism and offers lessons of hope that she has learned from a lifetime of activism in the memoir Still Hopeful. Barlow has been involved in three major movements: second-wave feminism, the battle against free trade and globalization and the fight for water justice. She emphasizes that effective activism is about building a movement and finding like-minded people rather than making the goal the focus.

New catch basin filters in Sudbury, Ont. capture 31 kg of trash in 3 weeks

New catch basin filters in Sudbury, Ont. capture 31 kg of trash in 3 weeks

A stewardship group in Sudbury, Ont., has installed eight catch basin filters on local waterways that have collected 31 kilograms of garbage so far. A catch basin consists of a grate and a drainage pipe, which are meant to collect large debris.The newly installed filters would help to catch smaller debris such as cigarette butts.  The Junction Creek Stewardship Committee received $98,296 from Environment and Climate Change Canada's EcoAction Grant program to install filters into catch basins throughout the city.

Climate change could cost municipalities $700M more a year to maintain pipes, sewers, report says

Climate change could cost municipalities $700M more a year to maintain pipes, sewers, report says

Extreme rainfall caused by climate change could cost municipalities in Ontario an additional $700 million a year to maintain stormwater and wastewater infrastructure, the province's financial watchdog warns. In a new report released on Tuesday, the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO) says severe weather will cost municipalities millions more in the coming decades if local governments do not spend the money now to keep aging infrastructure in a state of good repair. 

Quebec town illegally rezoned farmland, clear cut wetlands, commission finds

Quebec town illegally rezoned farmland, clear cut wetlands, commission finds

Three years after a flood engulfed Beauceville, the Quebec town could face legal sanctions after razing wetlands without a permit, a Quebec municipal commission report has found. From March to May, clear cutting was carried out over several hectares on behalf of the town of about 6,500 on lots the Environment Ministry had not approved, the commission says.

Well test results provide promise for new drinking water source in Arthur

Well test results provide promise for new drinking water source in Arthur

A small test well drilled in 2021 has Wellington North’s water department talking about the potential for a new drinking water source following a recent report on test findings. Located on township land at the unopened roads of Wells Street and McCauley Road, less than a kilometre north of Domville Street, the well yielded a high flow rate of 27 litres of water per second under a six-day stress test.

Consultations for Sustainable Agriculture Strategy launched

Consultations for Sustainable Agriculture Strategy launched

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has launched consultations focused on developing a Sustainable Agriculture Strategy that will support the livelihood fo farmers while growing a sustainable sector. She says the Strategy will focus on five key areas - soil health, climate adaptation and resilience, water, climate change mitigation, and biodiversity. 

Arizona’s governor is creating a border wall with shipping containers Published

Arizona’s governor is creating a border wall with shipping containers Published

With just weeks left until Mr Ducey leaves office, work crews operating along Arizona's eastern border with Mexico have been making progress on the barrier, which consists of double-stacked shipping containers and razor wire. That progress has recently been slowed by days of protests from environmental groups, who say that the barrier poses a danger to native species and natural water systems in the region.

Amendments to come to federal legislation following First Nations input

Amendments to come to federal legislation following First Nations input

Within an Anishinabek News article from 2013, the author was concerned that word games were being used to extinguish Native rights. The Department of Justice experimented with various wording for non-derogation language for use in the 2015, Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act, which contradicts promises made to Indigenous peoples in the treaties. For example; “For greater certainty, nothing in this Act or the regulations is to be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any existing Aboriginal or treaty rights of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, except to the extent necessary to ensure the safety of drinking water on First Nation lands.”

Ducks Unlimited Canada named key delivery agent for Natural Heritage Conservation Program

Ducks Unlimited Canada named key delivery agent for Natural Heritage Conservation Program

Against the backdrop of the COP15 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, an international conference focused on halting and reversing biodiversity loss through the protection and conservation of the natural environment, Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) is pleased to be named a lead conservation organization that will continue delivering the Government of Canada’s Natural Heritage Conservation Program (NHCP).

Expert Insight: Canada’s space technology a crucial contribution to the Artemis missions

Expert Insight: Canada’s space technology a crucial contribution to the Artemis missions

Fifty years ago this month was the last time humans walked on the surface of the moon, during the Apollo 17 mission. NASA recently took the first major step in returning humans to the moon with the Artemis I mission. Orion is an exploration spacecraft used in the Artemis I mission and is the most powerful rocket ever built. On Dec. 11, the uncrewed spacecraft returned to Earth after 25.5 days in space. With this mission, Canada is poised to embark on a new era of lunar exploration.

BQE Water Awarded Second Operations Contract for Selen-IX™ Water Treatment Plant at US Mine

BQE Water Awarded Second Operations Contract for Selen-IX™ Water Treatment Plant at US Mine

BQE Water Inc. (TSXV: BQE), a leader in the treatment and management of mine impacted waters, has signed an Operating Services Agreement to provide operations services for a water treatment plant utilizing its award winning Selen-IX™ process technology for selenium removal at a base metal project in Southwestern USA. The plant will treat impacted waters to remove selenium and dissolved metals in compliance with permitted water quality requirements.

Desert Mountain Energy Successfully Completes Gunnar Dome Well

Desert Mountain Energy Successfully Completes Gunnar Dome Well

From the President of the Company. The Company is pleased to announce that it has successfully completed its wildcat well on the Gunnar Dome prospect. As previously announced, the Company made the decision to test multiple zones in the well to have a better understanding of the localized geology with regard to future drill locations. A total of seven zones were perforated, tested, then squeezed off and bridge plugs were set to ensure complete closure. Many of the zones had gaseous mixtures which the McCauley processing plant is not currently set up to extract. The two sections which were perforated for production are within the same geologic formation and are separated by an impermeable layer with similar pressure. Both zones were perforated in a manner to stay within an area of only connate formation water values. Water-free or near-water-free Helium production is a continuing Company goal.

Contractor fined $2.8 million for spills that killed hundreds of fish in Coquitlam, Surrey creeks

Contractor fined $2.8 million for spills that killed hundreds of fish in Coquitlam, Surrey creeks

A construction contractor has been fined $2.8 million for releasing contaminated water into salmon-bearing creeks in Coquitlam and Surrey in 2017. Michels Canada Co., a construction contractor based out of Nisku, Alta., was ordered to pay the sum on Dec. 6, after pleading guilty to two charges under the Fisheries Act. “These creeks are inhabited by salmonids year-round, and the presence of juvenile salmonids in these creeks during the summertime low flow period and hot weather emphasizes the importance of this habitat,” stated Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) on Dec. 8.

House advances giant Texas storm surge project in water bill

House advances giant Texas storm surge project in water bill

Fourteen years after Hurricane Ike ripped through thousands of homes and businesses near Galveston, Texas – but mostly spared the region’s oil refineries and chemical plants – the U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to authorize the most expensive project ever recommended by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect against the next raging storm.

What is nuclear fusion and why is it such a big deal?

What is nuclear fusion and why is it such a big deal?

Here on Earth, nuclear fusion is produced by fusing the elements deuterium and tritium. Deuterium is quite plentiful and can be found in water, but is most abundant in our oceans. Tritium, on the other hand, is less plentiful and is primarily found in our atmosphere, a result of cosmic radiation. Tritium is also made in nuclear explosions and is a byproduct from nuclear reactors.

GOLDSTEIN: The last straw -- Canada's single use plastics ban means more garbage

GOLDSTEIN: The last straw -- Canada's single use plastics ban means more garbage

While the impact analysis says here will be a net environmental benefit from eliminating single use plastics, including the reduction of 1.8 million megatonnes of greenhouse gases annually, it also says some substitutes will have a higher climate change impact, as well as negative effects on air and water quality. The government says, based on 2019 data, that 15.5 billion plastic grocery bags a year were being sold in Canada, 5.8 billion straws, 4.5 billion pieces of cutlery, three billion stir sticks, 805 million takeout containers and 183 million six-pack rings. The six categories of single use plastics subject to the ban account for an estimated 160,000 tonnes of plastic waste annually, just 5% of the overall amount of 3.3 million tonnes of plastic waste. Of that, 86% ends up in landfills, 4% is burned, a dismal 9% is recycled — so much for all those years of faithful blue box recycling — and about 1%, or 29,000 tonnes, is discharged into the environment as litter, with 2,500 tonnes ending up in oceans, lakes and rivers.

Porter Airlines behind two massive hangars at Ottawa International Airport

Porter Airlines behind two massive hangars at Ottawa International Airport

To protect the hangars from fire damage, a dual system is being used. In addition to a conventional sprinkler system, the aircraft parking and maintenance areas will be equipped with an instantaneous foam deluge system. In the event of a fire, the multi-layers of fire suppression do not rely on a conventional single source of water supply. The city hydrant system is fully supplemented by an onsite underground water storage tank containing approximately 1.2 million litres of water. The hangars have been designed to exceed current energy efficiency standards. Stormwater management has also been factored into the design. Instead of rain and stormwater flowing directly into and over-stressing city mains, two 173,000-litre underground tanks are being installed to capture excess runoff.

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