Water News
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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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Largest Estuary Restoration Project on Vancouver Island starts work to revitalize crucial estuarine habitat
Water Canada
The Cowichan Estuary Restoration Project is the largest estuary restoration project to ever occur on Vancouver Island, aiming to restore vitally important estuary habitat and enhance estuary resilience against rising sea-levels. The project will rejuvenate habitat crucial for the survival of key fish and wildlife species, including wild Pacific Salmon, migratory and breeding birds as well as species-at-risk. Click here to continue reading
Compare and Contrast: Wild horse deaths in California sierra show a delicate ecosystem off balance
The Guardian
East of Yosemite national park, Mono Lake is an ancient body of water, home to millions of brine shrimp and waterfowl and providing stunning views. It’s also home to a herd of more than 500 wild horses that began arriving in the area around 2015. This spring, as snow drifts from a record-setting winter storm began to melt, officials were surprised to find the horses turning up dead. Click here to continue reading
Compare and Contrast: Panama Canal water levels are dangerously low because of a massive drought and it could mean bad things for global inflation
Fortune Magazine
If Gatun Lake levels keep falling as forecast, the market reaction will be higher shipping rates and a scramble to find alternative routes from Asia to the US, logistics experts said. The drought also risks undermining the Fed’s battle to get the rate of inflation closer to its 2% target. Click here to continue reading
Ukraine dam: Floods devastate tracts of rich farmland
BBC
The immediate humanitarian consequences, in flooded homes and displaced civilians, are dramatic enough. But Ukrainian officials are now warning of serious long-term consequences for agriculture across one of the country’s most fertile areas. The agriculture ministry on Wednesday predicted that fields in southern Ukraine could “turn into deserts as early as next year”, as vital irrigation systems, which depend on the vast Kakhovka reservoir, cease to function. Click here to continue reading
Dam breach could be Ukraine’s ‘worst ecological disaster since Chornobyl’
The Guardian
Ukrainian scientists are waiting for the water to subside before fully assessing the environmental impact of the Kakhovka dam breach, but one former minister warned it could prove the country’s worst ecological disaster since the Chornobyl nuclear meltdown. Click here to continue reading
Wheat prices jump following collapse of major dam in southern Ukraine
Sylvan Lake News
Global prices for wheat and corn soared Tuesday after a major dam in Ukraine collapsed, renewing market fears about the fragility of the country’s ability to ship food to Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia as it fights a war with Russia. Click here to continue reading
Calgary monitoring river levels amid below-average mountain snowpack levels
CTV News
Even along the continental divide, where winter snows historically lingered until July most years, there is very little, if any, snow left. It means rivers such as the Bow and the Elbow will get the majority of their volume from groundwater and any rain that falls. Click here to continue reading
Scuba divers in awe as deep-water shark ends up in shallow Vancouver Island waters
CBC News
A group of British Columbia scuba divers on Vancouver Island spotted a bluntnose sixgill shark on a recent dive in Alberni Inlet, capturing what they say is rare footage of the animal in shallow waters. Click here to continue reading
Zelenskyy calls for international aid as waters rise, Ukrainians flee homes after dam break
CBC News
Ukrainians abandoned their inundated homes as floodwaters crested across a swath of the south on Wednesday after the destruction of a vast dam on the front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces that each blamed on the other. Click here to continue reading
Cenovus fined after wastewater release from former Husky-owned pipeline
CTV News
Cenovus Energy is facing a fine over a release of wastewater into a wetland. In 2020, a pipeline then belonging to Husky Oil released about 206 cubic metres of produced water through a break in the line and into the surrounding wetland. Cenovus, which merged with Husky in 2021, has been assessed a $140,000 fine by the Alberta Energy Regulator after pleading guilty in provincial court. Click here to continue reading