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.
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Compare and contrast: San Francisco is suing the EPA over how specific water pollution permits should be
The Conversation – United States
This case asks the court to decide whether federal regulators can issue permits that are effectively broad orders not to violate water quality standards, or instead may only specify the concentrations of individual pollutants that permit holders can release into water bodies. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Governance.
AFN national chief urges all parties to support First Nations clean drinking water legislation
CBC
With over 30 long-standing boil water advisories still in place on First Nations across the country, the Assembly of First Nations is hoping all parties support legislation that would set drinking water standards on reserves. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Governance.
The fight for life downstream of Alberta’s tailings ponds – full of arsenic, mercury and lead
The Narwhal
In their own words: residents of Fort Chipewyan talk about their experiences – and fears – downstream from the Alberta oilsands’ trillion-litre tailings ponds of toxic byproducts. Click here to read the story.
Compare and contrast: Polluted waste from Florida’s fertilizer industry is in the path of Milton’s fury
The Canadian Press
As Hurricane Milton pummeled Florida’s west coast with powerful winds and flooding rain, environmentalists worry it could scatter the polluted leftovers of the state’s phosphate fertilizer mining industry and other hazardous waste across the peninsula and into vulnerable waterways. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Climate and Severe Weather.
Canada stresses ‘political’ nature of commitment to providing First Nations clean water
CBC
Scott Farlinger, legal counsel with Justice Canada, told court on Tuesday that Canada “readily acknowledges” previous governments have underfunded water services for First Nations. But, in the current government’s view, “things are not the same at present as they were in 1995,” Farlinger told Federal Court Justice Paul Favel in Ottawa. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Governance.
Compare and contrast: These 5 ‘post-truth’ claims are fuelling the water wars in Australia
The Conversation – Australia
Water policy in Australia is now at a crucial juncture. This year is the 20th anniversary of the National Water Initiative that was meant to lay the foundations for sustainable water management. The completion date of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, accompanied by billions of dollars in funding, is just two years away. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Governance.
Compare and contrast: Climate change boosted Helene’s deadly rain and wind and scientists say same is likely for Milton
The Canadian Press
Human-caused climate change boosted a devastating Hurricane Helene ‘s rainfall by about 10% and intensified its winds by about 11%, scientists said in a new flash study released just as a strengthening Hurricane Milton threatens the Florida coast less than two weeks later. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Climate and Severe Weather.
Compare and contrast: Salmon swim freely in the Klamath River for 1st time in a century after dams removed
The Canadian Press
For the first time in more than a century, salmon are swimming freely along the Klamath River and its tributaries – a major watershed near the California-Oregon border – just days after the largest dam removal project in U.S. history was completed. Researchers determined that Chinook salmon began migrating Oct. 3 into previously inaccessible habitat above the site of the former Iron Gate dam, one of four towering dams demolished as part of a national movement to let rivers return to their natural flow and to restore ecosystems for fish and other wildlife. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Infrastructure.
UCalgary’s new flow facility advances pipeline leak detection research
Water Canada
Water pipeline leaks were a big issue in Calgary this past summer, plunging the entire city into two extended periods of water-use restrictions after a mainline suffered a major break in June. But research at a new University of Calgary flow facility is helping make advancements to pipeline leak detection and related water infrastructure, including finding ways to reduce energy lost in water treatment when such incidents occur. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Infrastructure.
Compare and contrast: Solar-powered desalination system requires no extra batteries
Science Daily
The solar-powered system removes salt from water at a pace that closely follows changes in solar energy. As sunlight increases through the day, the system ramps up its desalting process and automatically adjusts to any sudden variation in sunlight, for example by dialing down in response to a passing cloud or revving up as the skies clear. Click here to read the story.