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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Wetlands can provide potential climate change solutions: Lakehead study
Water Canada
In a recent study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, Dr. Florin Pendea and co-authors Dr. Nanda Kanavillil and Dr. Sree Kurissery from Lakehead, and Dr. Gail Chmura of McGill University, found that wetlands within the Lake Simcoe watershed were 50 percent more effective in storing carbon than other wetland ecosystems, second only to salt marshes that form along the shores of temperate seas. Click here to continue reading
Winter has been unusually warm and dry
The Western Producer
Fall is officially over and we are starting meteorological winter, so let s look at the fall weather numbers for Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Click here to continue reading
Irrigators plan for a dry year if conditions hold
The Western Producer
Soil moisture and precipitation in Alberta are far from ideal for field crops and even irrigated land had challenges in the last growing season a situation that had many producers talking options during the Ag Connections conference in Medicine Hat in November. Click here to continue reading
Compare and contrast: Sister climate cities, utility data predict future water, electricity demands
Science Daily
Modern-day Ciudad Mante, Mexico, could help Tampa, Florida, plan for shifting water and electricity demands due to climate change, according to an international team of researchers. Researchers used utilities data and climate analogs — contemporary cities with climates close to what other cities are predicted to experience in the future — to assess how climate change may impact residential water and electricity use across 46 cities in the United States. Click here to continue reading
Protecting coastal aquatic ecosystems in British Columbia through important restoration work
Water Canada
More than $12 million announced for 6 projects in British Columbia under the Aquatic Ecosystems Restoration Fund (AERF). This fund supports projects to conserve and restore our aquatic ecosystems by addressing threats in these environments. Click here to continue reading
Compare and contrast: Dozens of Zimbabwe elephants die as climate change dries up Hwange park
Reuters
Dozens of elephants have died of thirst in Zimbabwe’s popular Hwange National Park, and conservationists fear losing more as a drought caused by climate change and the El Niño global weather pattern dries up watering holes. Click here to continue reading
A residential drinking well in northern B.C. has run dry, prompting concerns amid unprecedented drought
CBC
BC is currently in its second year of prolonged drought, which is having an impact on the groundwater that about a quarter of B.C.’s residents rely on for drinking water. Click here to continue reading
Compare and contrast: Urban water resilience: practical examples of locally-led adaptation [webinar]
Stockholm International Water Institute
An estimated 90% of climate-related impact is felt though water-related events and disasters, making water-focused adaptation sttegies vital. A session in the COP28 Water for Climate Pavilion looked at various examples of locally-led urban water resilience, to identify solutions that could be replicated and applied worldwide. [Recorded webinar]. Click here to continue reading
Morden issues water-use warning amid early drought conditions
The Free Press
Morden (Manitoba) residents are being asked to conserve water, after a moderate-level drought warning was announced this week. Morden leadership has set a use-reduction target of 10 per cent, and already reduced the amount of some water services, including landscape, construction sites and community leisure centres. Click here to continue reading
Alberta homes, businesses damaged by spring flooding can access provincial fund
CBC
The Alberta government is making $68 million available for people in Edson, Whitecourt, Yellowhead and Woodlands Counties who suffered losses in the floods caused by heavy rain and spring runoff last June. Click here to continue reading