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: AI-trained CCTV in rivers can spot blockages and reduce floods
Science Daily
Machine learning-equipped camera systems can be an effective and low-cost flood defence tool, researchers show. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Flood.
Two high school students want to keep trash out of the Great Lakes. They think rivers are the key
The Narwhal
A few years ago, a news story caught Ritvik Manicka’s attention. Then a Grade 8 student in Regina, Sask., he read about a University of Toronto ecologist who, along with a research team, was tossing plastic bottles with GPS trackers into the Great Lakes. Click here to read the story.
Compare and contrast: Southern Africa endures its worst hunger crisis in decades. Drought from El Nino to blame, UN says
The Canadian Press
Months of drought in southern Africa triggered by the El Nino weather phenomenon have had a devastating impact on more than 27 million people and caused the region’s worst hunger crisis in decades, the United Nations’ food agency said on Tuesday. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Drought.
Company fined $1 million for depositing toxic wastewater into the Peace River
CBC
Enforcement officers determined that on April 14, 2021, the company had deposited or permitted the deposit of more than 30 million litres of effluent – wastewater that was toxic to fish – from its pulp mill into the Peace River. Click here to read the story.
New global database of dams and reservoirs could transform water management
Water Canada
A groundbreaking database developed by the Global Dam Watch (GDW) consortium is set to transform the global understanding of dams and reservoirs. Co-ordinated and led by members of a research lab at McGill University, with funding from World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the World Bank, the database integrates existing global datasets to provide the most comprehensive resource for large-scale analyses to date. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Infrastructure.
Climate change putting Alberta lakes on dangerously thin ice: U of C researcher
Calgary Herald
Dramatically-accelerating ice loss over the past 25 years means some areas of the Northern Hemisphere have seen a thaw arriving 45 days earlier per century, states the review paper published this week in the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s journal Science. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Climate and Severe Weather.
Second Narrows Water Supply Tunnel receives Canadian Project of the Year award
Water Canada
“I’m so proud that this major drinking-water infrastructure project, which will help us keep delivering water even after earthquakes, is being celebrated,” said Mike Hurley, Chair of Metro Vancouver’s Board of Directors. “Metro Vancouver is working on hundreds of projects at any given time. The Second Narrows Water Supply Tunnel Project is an excellent example of the kind of award-winning, high-quality, on-budget work that our organization delivers.”. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Infrastructure.
Weekend water main break not related to big one in June: Calgary official
Global News
Ryan Kidd, the city’s deputy director of water services, says the recent break happened in a smaller, 250-millimetre cast-iron distribution line that serves the immediate area, which is near Bowness Road and 51st Street North West. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Infrastructure.
Compare and contrast: Millions of people across the US use well water, but very few test it often enough to make sure it’s safe
The Conversation – United States
Multiple studies show that, at best, half of private well owners are testing with any frequency, and very few households test once or more yearly, as public health officials recommend. Even in Iowa, which has some of the strongest state-level policies for protecting private well users, state funds for free private water quality testing regularly go unspent. Click here to read the story.
Compare and contrast: Dramatic images show the first floods in the Sahara in half a century
The Guardian
Two days of rainfall in September exceeded yearly averages in several areas of south-east Morocco and caused a deluge, officials of the country’s meteorology agency said in early October. In Tagounite, a village about 450km(280 miles) south of the capital, Rabat, more than 100mm (3.9 inches) was recorded in a 24-hour period. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Flood.