Water News
Please note, the daily news can now be found at our new website, waterportal.ca . We will no longer be updating this page, as this website will be removed in the coming weeks. All of our content can be found at our new website, with a modern look and better functionality on all your devices.
Alberta Water News is a free, subscription-based service that provides the latest information on water news across Alberta and upcoming events.
The news is distributed weekly on Mondays via a collated email and Monday to Friday via WaterPortal social media (X was Twitter). Please note that news will not be distributed on Holiday Mondays and will be released the following Tuesday.
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Compare and Contrast: Southern California’s ‘water doctor’ pushes for transformation to adapt to climate change
Los Angeles Times
As general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Hagekhalil is responsible for ensuring water for 19 million people, leading the nation’s largest wholesale supplier of drinking water. He says that with climate change upending the water cycle, the three existing aqueducts will no longer be sufficient. Click here to continue reading
Microplastics now pervasive in Great Lakes, with 90% of water samples surpassing safe levels for aquatic wildlife: new studies
International Institute for Sustainable Development
However, if Canada and the United States act together soon, we can develop systems to monitor and reduce the risks that these pollutants pose to the health of these critical ecosystems. Click here to continue reading
Heavy rain aids in tempering B.C. wildfires in Shuswap, Okanagan regions
CTV News
Firefighters in British Columbia’s southern Interior continue to battle a number of major blazes, having been aided by ample rainfall that fell Wednesday over the Okanagan and Shuswap regions. Click here to continue reading
Canadian hydroelectric megaproject completes earthfill dam
Ground Engineering
Canadian electric utility BC Hydro announced the completion of the Site C earthfill dam at the end of last month. The 60m tall structure is 500m wide at its base and stretches more than 1km across Peace River in north east British Columbia. Site C will form a third dam and hydroelectric generating station on the river. Once completed in 2025, it will provide 1,100MW of capacity and produce about 5,100GWh of electricity each year. Construction on the project began in 2015. Click here to continue reading
Compare and Contrast: Murray-Darling Basin Plan to be extended under a new agreement, without Victoria – but an uphill battle lies ahead
The Conversation – Australia + New Zealand
It was clear too much water was being taken out of the system and everyone would suffer if Basin states could not find a better way to share. But it has been much harder to strike the right balance than first hoped. Click here to continue reading
Reusing some household water can help with drought. Here’s why that’s tricky in Canada
CBC News
For a while, every time Caetano Dorea’s kids took a bath, he used a bilge pump to save the water and pour it on his plants outside. As a University of Victoria engineering professor specializing in wastewater treatment, Dorea knows more than the average person about how much water the average household uses in Canada. Click here to continue reading
Compare and Contrast: ‘Coastal squeeze:’ Massive loss of U.S. coastline tidal flats over 31 years
Science Daily
The entire contiguous U.S. has experienced massive urban expansions and the Atlantic Coast shows outstandingly high rates. Urban expansion has substantially squeezed the space of tidal flats and affected surrounding environments. In new urban areas, tidal flats have undergone considerable degeneration with more significant patterns as they get closer to new urban locations. Tidal flats protect against the ocean’s destructive powers such as hurricanes. Without some inland spaces to move around, they will likely disappear, which will have dire consequences for beachfront communities. Click here to continue reading
Highway between Banff and Jasper reopens after being washed out by river
CTV News
A road closure that shut down travel on Highway 93 has been cleared, officials said Tuesday afternoon. Officials said earlier in the day that Highway 93 was closed in both directions between Saskatchewan River Crossing and Parker Ridge because the river had washed out the road. Click here to continue reading
Red Deer County gravel pit not source of water well contamination: report
Red Deer Advocate
A Red Deer County-operated gravel pit was not responsible for contaminating a nearby water well with aluminum and lead concluded an Alberta Parks and Protected Places investigation. Click here to continue reading
Thinning ice sheets may drive sharp rise in subglacial waters
Science Daily
A new study shows that water underneath glaciers may surge due to thinning ice sheets — a dangerous feedback cycle that could increase glacial melt, sea level rise, and biological disturbances. Click here to continue reading