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.
Subscribe here for the free service, or follow the WaterPortal on your preferred social media platform.
Compare and Contrast: ‘We felt so betrayed’: Indigenous tribe reels after exclusion from US marine sanctuary
The Guardian
The Chumash tribe had advocated for California’s central coast to be protected, but a draft management plan left out the stretch they had hoped would be protected. Click here to continue reading
AI and data centres drink up billions of litres of water, experts say. This is why
CTV News
Artificial intelligence is making things easier in some industries, like health care and astronomy, but in other ways, AI can be harmful. It’s difficult to determine whether these types of technology do more harm than good, as some AI systems use a lot of energy, emitting a significant amount of carbon. Others can aid industries already harming the environment by amplifying their resources. Click here to continue reading
At Canada’s largest Atlantic puffin colony, chicks are dying of starvation
CBC News
The volunteers who rescue Atlantic puffin chicks — called “pufflings” — knew something was wrong when so few strays from the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula showed up this summer. The fledglings emerge from their burrow at night to avoid predators, but some are attracted to the lights in the rapidly growing communities on shore. Members of a group called the Puffin Patrol capture the stranded pufflings and release them into the ocean. Click here to continue reading
Compare and Contrast: Fight over precious groundwater in rural California town is rooted in carrots
Ponoka News
The battle playing out in this stretch of rural California represents a new wave of legal challenges over water, long one of the most precious and contested resources in a state that grows much of the country’s produce.For years, California didn’t regulate groundwater, allowing farmers and residents alike to drill wells and take what they needed. That changed in 2014 amid a historic drought, and as ever-deeper wells caused land in some places to sink. Click here to continue reading
Compare and Contrast: ‘It smells so bad’: glut of wild salmon creates stink in Norway and Finland
The Guardian
Along the border between Norway and Finland lies the world’s greatest Atlantic salmon river. To the Norwegians, it is the Tanaelva or Tana; the Finns call it the Tenojoki or Teno. But to both countries it is known as one of the purest and cleanest rivers, passing through largely unspoiled and unpolluted regions from Finnmark, Norway’s northernmost county, into Lapland. Click here to continue reading
Compare and Contrast: English water firms face backlash over plans to ask customers to pay £96bn to cut leaks
The Guardian
Water companies are facing a backlash from campaigners after revealing they will ask customers to pay for a record £96bn investment to fix raw sewage leaks, build new reservoirs and reduce leaks. The main water and sewerage companies want the regulator, Ofwat, to approve their spending plans for 2025-30, which they say amount to almost doubling the investment into providing clean water, protecting the environment and securing future water resources. Click here to continue reading
ALTRA | SANEXEN’s Martin Bureau wins 2024 Clean50 Award
Water Canada
Martin Bureau, Vice-President of Innovation and Head of the PFAS Centre for Excellence at ALTRA | SANEXEN, has won the 2024 Clean50 Award, in the Clean Technology category. The prestigious Clean50 award recognizes leaders from across Canada who have done the most to advance climate action and develop smart climate solutions. Click here to continue reading
‘Situation is not ideal’
The Western Producer
A generational hydrological drought is occurring in rivers in southern Alberta, resulting in water levels rivaling the lowest seen in 50 years, the activation of a county’s emergency operations and a warning from the province. Hydrological drought refers to the effects of precipitation shortfalls on surface or subsurface water, such as stream flows, reservoirs, lake levels and groundwater. Click here to continue reading
Compare and Contrast: Weather tracker: South Africa floods kill at least 11 people
The Guardian
Extreme rain and strong winds across South Africa’s Western Cape province have caused flooding, torn off roofs, destroyed crops and damaged roads this week. It is estimated that the 48-hour rainfall totals between Sunday and Monday were between 100mm to 200mm (4-8in) in this region. Click here to continue reading
Compare and Contrast: ‘The dog’s very happy’: water-conscious Swedish islanders compete for ugliest lawn title
The Guardian
Dry, brown grass is no longer a source of shame on one Swedish island where residents have been competing over the “ugliest lawn” in an attempt to save water – and it seems the trend is spreading. Click here to continue reading