Water News
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.
Subscribe here for the free service Weekly Newsletter, or follow the WaterPortal on your preferred social media platform.
Compare and Contrast: Colorado River has lost 10tn gallons of water since 2000 due to climate crisis
The Guardian
The climate crisis has caused the ailing Colorado River basin, a system relied upon by 40 million people in the US west, to lose more than 10tn gallons of water in the last two decades, new research has found. Click here to continue reading
Kahnawà:ke’s bay restoration hailed as an example of Indigenous-led conservation
CBC News
When Cody Diabo recently learned that the bay restoration project on Kateri Tekakwitha Island was near complete, he took his family for a walk there to see its transformation from a dry, rocky shore into a marsh teeming with life. Click here to continue reading
City of Calgary reducing water use due to drought conditions; we can all be water wise this summer
City of Calgary
The City of Calgary is formally moving our drought monitoring dial from Normal to Dry conditions, due to drier weather and higher temperatures. This decision is based on our ongoing monitoring of precipitation levels, reservoirs and lake levels, stream flow rates in rivers, and water demand, among others. Click here to continue reading
Compare and Contrast: City Sewers Can’t Handle Climate Change’s Intense Rains
Scientific American
A series of new reports by the Federal Emergency Management Agency says that most urban drainage systems “were not built to handle the amount of runoff from increasingly intense storms.” In addition, most cities with urban flooding “do not regulate” development in the vulnerable areas, FEMA said, drawing a contrast with development restrictions in areas vulnerable to coastal or river flooding. Click here to continue reading
Renewable solar energy can help purify water, the environment
Science Daily
Using electrochemistry to separate different particles within a solution (also known as electrochemical separation) is an energy-efficient strategy for environmental and water remediation: the process of purifying contaminated water. Click here to continue reading
Compare and Contrast: Thames Water has failed to install any smart meters yet in £70m green scheme
The Guardian
Thames Water has admitted it has failed to install a single smart water meter under a flagship £70m programme to fit hundreds of thousands of the devices to support the UK’s “green economic recovery” from Covid-19. The company has told regulators and investors that it is yet to begin installing the 204,700 smart water meters promised in the Thames Valley region, which are due to be fitted by the end of March 2025. Click here to continue reading
Investments in drinking water infrastructure for town and county of Antigonish, NS
Canadian Water
This investment will enable the expansion of the St. Joseph’s water system, with the addition of a 51,000 gallon (US) storage tank and the construction of approximately 3.6 kilometres of distribution line. This expansion will provide access to drinking water for approximately 40 additional properties, which includes over 650 acres for development. Click here to continue reading
Compare and Contrast: How well-managed dams and smart forecasting can limit flooding as extreme storms become more common in a warming world
The Conversation
The arduous task of cleaning up from catastrophic flooding is underway across the Northeast after storms stretched the region’s flood control systems nearly to the breaking point. As rising global temperatures make extreme storms more common, the nation’s dams and reservoirs – crucial to keeping communities dry – are being tested. California and states along the Mississippi River have faced similar flood control challenges in 2023. Click here to continue reading
Compare and Contrast: It’s Scorching in Iran, and There’s Less and Less Water to Help
The New York Times
As groundwater and reservoirs dry up, droughts intensify and climate change pushes temperatures higher. Iranians in rural areas are increasingly unable to afford the trucked-in or store-bought water on which they must rely. Water shortages fueled protests in the historic city of Isfahan and in Khuzestan Province in 2021, and more discontent with the government is brewing over its failure to address the blistering heat. Click here to continue reading
Drought conditions threatening B.C. salmon as river levels drop
CBC News
Under a hot sun, lifelong fishermen Travis Heathman crosses an overpass above the Chilliwack River to scope out what’s usually a popular fishing hole — but the water isn’t flowing as quickly or as deep as it usually does at this time of year. Click here to continue reading