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Latest news about the Safe Drinking Water Team
An International Institute for Sustainable Development report says farms, particularly livestock operations, can see significant benefits from water retention projects installed on their land. The report is the culmination of a study of 10 water retention projects within the Seine Rat Rousseau Watershed District that began in 2019. The projects fall under Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Living Lab Eastern Prairies initiative.
Farms in the City of Delta and elsewhere could benefit from residuals from the treatment process that makes our drinking water safe. Metro Vancouver’s Water Committee at its Sept. 7 meeting received an update report on beneficial uses of drinking water treatment residuals, generated by the Seymour Capilano Filtration Plant consisting of sediments, naturally occurring organic matter and treatment chemicals.
The P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture is now receiving applications for a federal program granting money to farmers for projects that will cut carbon emissions. The federation will be distributing $6 million in federal funding to Island farmers as part of a $182-million national program announced earlier this year. The projects can range from anything from winter cover cropping, to nitrogen management and advanced grazing management.
Karl Meier has spent days battling to save his property and dairy cattle from flooding in British Columbia's Fraser Valley, but he says the biggest issue right now is with local law enforcement. "It was bad enough we had to fight the water, but now we've got to fight someone against what we're trying to do," said Meier. Meier owns U & D Meier Dairy in the Sumas Prairie region of Abbotsford, about 100 kilometres east of Vancouver. The area is under an evacuation order because of flooding in the nearby Sumas River. Police-enforced roadblocks have been set up around the area to prevent people from coming or going. Meier said this is making it difficult for people to bring in supplies to the farmers who have chosen to stay to protect their business and their animals.
Preliminary research on P.E.I. farms shows that irrigating potatoes helps the plants better use nitrogen in fertilizer, so it doesn't end up leaching into the environment. The research by the Living Lab Project — a partnership of Agriculture Canada, the East Prince Agri-Environment Association and the P.E.I. Department of Agriculture — is in its third year. Provincial soil and water conservation engineer Tobin Stetson said the early field trial results are replicating results from previous federal research farm testing.
Rebecca Zagozewski, executive director with the Saskatchewan First Nations Water Association, says cisterns can pose health risks to those who rely on them. She says the structures can have cracked lids, which allows all sorts of debris to get into them — including rats, mice, drowned puppies and garbage — and they’re often not cleaned properly. On top of that, she says the Saskatchewan First Nations Water Association is concerned that there is no certification program for water truck drivers. The group wants to create such a program where drivers would have to be trained in how to keep the water safe and be held accountable if things go wrong. “Because right now there’s no accountability,” she says.
