WATER NEWS 1/08

Canada Water news roundup

BC

Lawsuit looks to protect Shuswap farmers' water from logging

A group of Shuswap farmers in Turtle Valley near Chase have filed lawsuits against BC Timber Sales (BCTS) in an effort to protect their drinking water.

The Upper Chum Creek Water Users Association, as well as impacted farmers Christine and Scott Adderson and Hillary and John McNolty, have filed a judicial review petition and notices of civil claim in supreme court to try and stop the BCTS' planned auction of four cut blocks in the Skimikin and Ptarmigan Hills. (The Chilliwack Progress)

Delta wants new water intake from Fraser River

The City of Delta has issued a request for bids from engineering consulting companies to design a gravity irrigation intake from Fraser River near 96th Street and River Road.

The scope of work also includes preparing a long-term strategy to improve the supply of irrigation water from the Fraser River to Delta’s irrigation to enhance agricultural productivity, a project partially funded by the BC Ministry of Agriculture through the Investment Agriculture Foundation’s Food Security Emergency Planning and Preparedness Fund. (Delta Optimist)

B.C. ship recycler penalized $46,105 for leaking toxic effluent into ocean

A company that dismantles and recycles ships on a stretch of British Columbia coastline has been penalized $46,105 for releasing effluent laced with high concentrations of toxic metals into the ocean.

The “major” administrative penalties to Deep Water Recovery Ltd. come after the company allowed the toxic effluent to flow into the ocean near Vancouver Island’s Union Bay at least seven times between 2023 and 2024, according to a recent decision from Environmental Management Act director Jason Bourgeois.

The toxic waste was found to contain elevated levels of copper, zinc and lead, that at the high end, exceeded provincial water quality guidelines by nearly 24,000 per cent. 

(Vancouver is awesome)

AB

Town intends to acquire more water rights in 2025

Water rights and infrastructure are high on the list of priorities in the town's largest and most ambitious capital budget to date.

The $88.5 million forward-thinking budget plays catch up on aging infrastructure and weighs heavily into addressing current and future water and wastewater needs.

(CochraneNow)

Alberta Energy Regulator lacks evidence for tailings spill cleanup claims: study

A new analysis of a decade's worth of data kept by Alberta’s oil and gas regulator suggests the agency has made unsubstantiated claims about the success of oilsands tailings spills cleanup.

"Their own data, their ... internal data are not being reflected in the ... information that they're releasing to the public,” the study’s author, Alberta-based ecologist Kevin Timoney, said in an interview. (St Albert Gazette)

YU

Contaminated water storage at Victoria Gold mine may be leaking: Yukon government

The Yukon government and the receiver in charge of the Eagle Gold Mine are monitoring one of the contaminated water storage ponds, recently excavated on the mine site, over concerns it may be leaking. 

According to a Jan. 3 update on its response to the situation at the mine, which has been out of production since a June 2024 landslide breached its heap leach facility, the Yukon government states that it was informed about the possible leak on Dec. 28, 2024.

(Yukon News)

NWT

NWT Reports on Climate Action and Energy 2023-2024

The North continues to experience climate warming at a faster rate than the rest of Canada, adversely impacting our Northern ecosystems, infrastructure, and supply chains. At the same time, the Northwest Territories (NWT) is facing the combined effects of energy price volatility and a longstanding infrastructure deficit, which impact energy affordability and security. The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) and its partners are answering this call to action, and the release of the 2023-2024 Climate Action Report and the 2023-2024 Energy Initiatives Report highlight progress made to mitigate GHG emissions and adapt to climate change. (gov.nt.ca)

SK

Water Security Agency releases conditions at freeze-up

In a December media release on the Government of Saskatchewan’s website, it reported the Water Security Agency’s report on a summarization of conditions during late fall/early winter period.

While conditions are still below normal, the WSA reported that conditions have improved over last year. (SaskToday)

ON

Advancing hydrogen as a replacement for carbon fuel

University of Toronto researchers are working to improve a device used for splitting the water molecule. While the notion of using hydrogen for energy has been around since Sir William Grove first invented the fuel cell in 1838, the idea started to get more traction after the first use of fuel cells in space for NASA’s 1965 Gemini V mission.

More recently, researchers like Tess Seip, a PhD candidate in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department at the University of Toronto (U of T), have been investigating hydrogen as a green energy source to mitigate carbon emissions. (Environmental Journal)

First Nations around Ontario’s Lake Nipigon come together to protect their waters

Spurred by industrial development, nations collaborating on testing, data collection and stewardship By Fatima Syed

In December 2024, seven First Nations in norther Ontario came together for the first time to plan collaborative conservation efforts around Lake Superior — and ultimately all the Great Lakes.

Six years ago, Rocky Bay First Nation — an Indigenous community of more than 1,000 people just north of Lake Superior — began to study the health of their food and water. 

Worried about the impacts of paper mills, mines and other industrial activities on the water systems that lead to the world’s largest freshwater lake, fishers from the community collected fish for food and to test for contaminants, particularly mercury. (The Narwhal)

Sudbury will use extra provincial dollars to fix roads, sewers, water lines

The City of Greater Sudbury is getting an additional $2.7 million from the province through the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund to put towards its infrastructure and social services. The additional 12 per cent in funding, which will bring the city’s 2025 Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund money to more than $24 million, was announced by Rural Affairs Minister Lisa Thompson at a press conference at Tom Davies Square on Monday.

(Sudbury Star)