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: 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.
Compare and contrast: Water gushes through palm trees and sand dunes after rare rain in the Sahara Desert
The Canadian Press
“It’s been 30 to 50 years since we’ve had this much rain in such a short space of time,” said Houssine Youabeb of Morocco’s General Directorate of Meteorology. Such rains, which meteorologists are calling an extratropical storm, may indeed change the course of the region’s weather in months and years to come as the air retains more moisture, causing more evaporation and drawing more storms, Youabeb said. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Drought.
Compare and contrast: Water companies in England and Wales told to pay £158m penalty to customers
The Guardian
The regulator, Ofwat, announced the penalties as part of its annual review of companies’ performance. The report showed that companies reduced sewage spills by just 2% between 2020 and 2024, way behind a target of 30% for the 2020-25 period. Click here to read the story.
Compare and contrast: Biden sets a 10-year deadline for US cities to replace lead pipes and make drinking water safer
The Canadian Press
A decade after the Flint, Michigan, water crisis raised alarms about the continuing dangers of lead in tap water, President Joe Biden is setting a 10-year deadline for cities across the nation to replace their lead pipes, finalizing an aggressive approach aimed at ensuring that drinking water is safe for all Americans. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Infrastructure.
Save Kississing Lake – stop acid mine drainage
Water Canada
Acidic water laced with heavy metals from a Province of Manitoba mine remediation project has been contaminating Kississing Lake with cadmium, aluminum, copper, zinc and iron concentrations in excess of Canadian Water Quality Standards for years. Sept 2024 samples show pH 5.86 at the discharge point from Camp Lake, where millions of tonnes of sulfide-bearing mine tailings are submerged. A spring 2024 sample was pH 4.91, well below the water quality environmental standards for Canada. Discharge of wastewater pH below 5.0 is subject to criminal charges in the USA. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Governance.
Compare and contrast: An unusual hurricane season goes from ultra quiet to record busy and spawns Helene and Milton
The Canadian Press
Explosively intensifying Hurricane Milton is the latest freaky system to come out of what veteran hurricane scientists call the weirdest storm season of their lives. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Climate and Severe Weather.
Compare and contrast: The world’s rivers faced the driest year in three decades in 2023, the UN weather agency says
The Canadian Press
The U.N. weather agency is reporting that 2023 was the driest year in more than three decades for the world’s rivers, as the record-hot year underpinned a drying up of water flows and contributed to prolonged droughts in some places. The World Meteorological Organization also says glaciers that feed rivers in many countries suffered the largest loss of mass in the last five decades, warning that ice melt can threaten long-term water security for millions of people globally. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Drought.
Water First internship is training the next generation of First Nation water operators
National Observer
For many First Nations, securing a treatment plant is only one hurdle. Finding experienced operators is another. Click here to read the story.
Compare and contrast: Flash floods and landslides hit parts of Bosnia, killing at least 16
The Guardian
Huge volumes of rain fell in the area around Jablanica and nearby Konjic, causing sudden flooding that inundated people’s homes as they were sleeping. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Flood.
Federal government transfers more than $16M through the Canada Community-Building Fund to Newfoundland and Labrador
Water Canada
This is the first transfer through the recently renewed CCBF agreement with the province. This agreement runs from 2024-2034, and under it Newfoundland and Labrador will receive more than $168.7 million over the next five years, including more than $32.1 million this fiscal year. Click here to read the story.
Click the following link for more information on Infrastructure.