Water Canada | Category Archives

Ontario-China Call for Water Tech Proposals

Posted on May 1, 2012

Ontario's Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation has launched its second call for proposals under the Ontario-China Research and Innovation Fund. This year's areas of focus includes water and related technologies. The deadline for applications is May 31. The Ontario government and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote scientific, technological and industrial research and commercialization cooperation. The two jurisdictions have committed $5 million each, for a total of $10 million over five years (2011-2015), to create the fund, which [...]

Okanagan Water Study Wins Award

Posted on April 30, 2012

The Okanagan Basin Water Board and 13 partnering agencies were presented with the “Award for Excellence in the Water and Waste Community” by the B.C. Water and Waste Association. The award was presented in recognition of the work on the three-year extensive Okanagan Water and Supply Demand Study. “After several years of intense work, getting to understand the complex working of our water in the Okanagan – how much we have – how much we use – it’s wonderful to have that work recognized by the BCWWA with this major provincial award,” said Anna Warwick Sears, executive director of the Okanagan Basin Water Board, in [...]

Stantec Wins for Ottawa's RTC System

Posted on April 30, 2012

Stantec’s water team in Ottawa has been honoured with the Environment Award for their real time control (RTC) system for the City of Ottawa’s combined sewer system. The Environment Award was presented at a gala in Toronto on Saturday by the Consulting Engineers of Ontario (CEO). Stantec and its partner, BPR-CSO, implemented RTC based operating strategies for the City of Ottawa's combined sewer system. Real time control operation of wastewater collection systems is a relatively new field that involves the automated control of operations in response to observed and/or predicted conditions. The system takes advantage of existing [...]

Researchers Discover Resistance in Ontario Freshwater

Posted on April 26, 2012

McMaster University researchers have discovered that floc--“goolike” substances that occur suspended in water and that host large communities of bacteria--also contain high levels of antibiotic resistance. “This has important public health implications because the more antibiotic resistance there is, the less effective our antibiotic arsenal is against infectious diseases,” said Lesley Warren, professor of earth science, in a recent press release. The research was led by Warren and Gerry Wright, scientific director of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, along with Ian Droppo, a research [...]

Charlottetown Begins $18M Sewer Separation Project

Posted on April 25, 2012

This month, the City of Charlottetown awarded the consulting engineering services portion of the Spring Park Combined Sewer Separation Project to the Charlottetown Office of Genivar Inc. The Spring Park Combined Sewer Separation Project is part of the city's continuing efforts to resolve the operational and environmental issues associated with combined sewer overflows. The estimated cost of this project is $18 million. "This project has been an important collaboration between the City of Charlottetown, and the PEI provincial government," said Mayor Clifford Lee in a press release. "We look forward to the federal government [...]

	Poll: Changes to the Fisheries Act Posted on April 25, 2012 Yesterday, the federal government announced a proposal to change certain aspects of the Fisheries Act. For details, click here. We'd love to know what you think. As always, feel free to explain your choice in the comments section below. [...]
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FOCA Renews Agreement with Province of Ontario

Posted on April 25, 2012

The Federation of Ontario Cottagers' Associations announced this week that it has renewed its agreement with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment in support of the Ontario Lake Partner Program. The aim of the partnership is to foster stewardship and awareness on water environmental issues, and allow the Lake Partner Program (LPP) to monitor and track water clarity and phosphorus levels in water bodies across Ontario. The LPP received the 2011 Technical Excellence Award from the North American Lake Management Society, for important contributions to the science of lake and watershed management. It tracks long-term trends in key [...]

Lake Management Planning Begins on Pigeon Lake

Posted on April 24, 2012

Pigeon Lake has joined Balsam, Cameron, and Sturgeon lakes in a program that seeks to enhance the environmental health and economic sustainability of lakes across the City of Kawartha Lakes. An official launch for the Pigeon Lake Management Plan was held this week at Kawartha Settler’s Village in Bobcaygeon. “The health of the lake is reflected in our local economy and communities, and needs to be managed wisely,” said Pat Warren, director of Kawartha Conservation, in a press release. “We need to get started right away on research that will help us better understand issues such as blue-green algae outbreaks, excessive aquatic [...]

Feds to Introduce Changes to Fisheries Act

Posted on April 24, 2012

Current rules for protecting fish habitat are “indiscriminate and unfocused,” according to Keith Ashfield, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. In a release today, the federal government said will introduce changes to “protect the productivity of recreational, commercial and Aboriginal fisheries.” “We have been clear that the current rules governing the protection of fish habitat are indiscriminate and unfocused and do not reflect the priorities of Canadians,” said Minister Ashfield. “We are committed to making sure our rules protect the fisheries that Canadians value and the habitat that supports them. We can [...]

Water Treatment Research Sparks Fuel Cell Innovation

Posted on April 24, 2012

This week, the Council of Ontario Universities announced that physical chemistry doctoral student Julia van Drunen has received one of five summer fellowships from the international Electrochemical Society for her research in the fields of water treatment and fuel cell technology. Supervised by Dr. Gregory Jerkiewicz, van Drunen garnered attention when she started applying work from her earlier graduate studies to fuel cell technology. It started with a nickel-based catalyst design for water treatment. The catalyst, which is described as looking like a three-dimensional chain-linked fence, offers a high surface area ideal for creating [...]