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Canada, In Brief 2015

Canada’s water challenges and the ways provinces and territories address those challenges can be so similar yet entirely unique. Each jurisdiction’s positions on issues of…

Lost at Sea

Canada’s State of the Oceans Report acknowledged many of the concerns scientists and conservationists have raised for decades: increasing acidity, a significant thinning of sea…

Emotional Connections

The unnamed candidate had a problem. Though not against the idea of clean water—who would be?—he didn’t want to make it a priority in his…

Off the Frack Track

Four years ago, if you had asked Stephanie Merrill of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick (CCNB) and Jennifer West of the Ecology Action Centre…

One Health

Researchers from the University of Calgary and University of Alberta in collaboration with Alberta’s Provincial Laboratory for Public Health (ProvLab), Alberta Health Services, and FoodNet…

Cutting Costs

Underground infrastructure throughout North America is rapidly reaching the end of its design life. In recent years, there have been increases in public infrastructure investments,…

Small Demands

Rising water demands are putting increasing pressure on many water agencies’ infrastructure and thus signaling the possible need for greater capital investments. A key ingredient…

Prioritize This

Across the country, municipalities are grappling with major water infrastructure challenges: aging infrastructure, legacy combined sewer systems, upgrading treatment plants to meet environmental requirements and…

Nature’s Resource

Not all infrastructure is made of concrete. Around the world, wetlands are both environmentally and economically beneficial green infrastructure. These unique ecosystems reduce the severity…

After the Rain

In the summer of 2013, Toronto and Calgary were rocked by floods that cost each municipality millions of dollars in damage. Flooded cars were stranded…

An Eye on B.C.

Reliable water, sewer, and stormwater systems are essential to public health, a clean environment, and a strong economy. But these essential systems may be at…

One Year In

Federal Infrastructure Minister Denis Lebel officially launched the New Building Canada Fund (NBCF) on March 28, 2014 to a lukewarm reception. While the plan is…

Guide to Change

The words “sustainable” and “resilient” have become widespread descriptors for infrastructure: resonating in brochures, ads, logos, business cards, magazines, and college curricula. These two words…

Wastewater Optimization

Municipalities throughout North America have substantial investments in their wastewater treatment systems, and of course as populations grow, utilities must consider investing in expansion. Recently,…

Cold Snap

Winter-related issues disrupt communities across Canada every year and the impacts from extreme weather events, like ice storms, are compounded as we endure one polar…

David Versus Goliath

Ristigouche-Partie-Sud-Est (hereafter “Ristigouche”), a small municipality of 168 inhabitants located in Gaspésie, Quebec, is facing a lawsuit of $1.5 million by Gastem, a local private…

Water Forecast

The future is notoriously difficult to predict. But if the past is anything to go by, the coming decades could bring a lot of change.…

What’s Old is New

Tansley Bridge was originally built in 1919 and supported a highway crossing Bronte Creek. In 1948, the highway was realigned following the construction of the…

Rights and Reconciliation

This summer, four Alberta First Nations decided to pursue judicial consideration of their right to water. Over the past decade, the issue of unsafe drinking…

Without a Paddle

During the height of fishing season in New Brunswick, as anglers lured Atlantic salmon on the famous Miramichi River and kids navigated through thickets to…

Toxic Relationship

When McGill professor and researcher Viviane Yargeau used to visit wastewater treatment stations to explain her work on controlling contaminants of emerging concern, municipalities were…

The Fracking Point

The total volume of shale gas present across Canada is estimated to be greater than 4,995 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), and approximately 573 Tcf of…

Shock Waves

In March 2011, a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in northeastern Japan. More than 15,000 people died…