Swim Drink Fish Blog
Read the latest updates and news releases about community science, water monitoring, Artists for Water, and more.
Checking In with @waterkeepermark and Swim Drink Fish Ambassador Wade Davis
Mark is Checking In with Swim Drink Fish Ambassador Wade Davis about living with social distancing. Wade Davis is an ethnographer, writer, photographer, and filmmaker. Davis holds degrees in anthropology and biology and received his Ph.D. in ethnobotany, all from Harvard University. He travels the globe to live alongside indigenous peoples and document their cultural practices in books, photographs, and film. He is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, and he has published 185 scientific and popular articles.
Checking In with @waterkeepermark and Swim Drink Fish Ambassador Denise Donlon
Mark is Checking In with Swim Drink Fish Ambassadors about living with social distancing. Here, Denise Donlon answers Mark’s questions. Denise Donlon has helped raise $1-million for swimmable, drinkable, fishable water. She is an author, an activist, and has been a leader in the Canadian cultural landscape for over 30 years as GM of CBC English Radio, President of Sony Music Canada, and various executive and on-air positions at ChumTelevision, The NewMusic, and MuchMusic.
Checking In with @waterkeepermark and Swim Drink Fish Ambassador Dave Bidini
Mark is Checking In with Swim Drink Fish Ambassadors about living with social distancing. Here, Dave Bidini answers Mark’s questions. Dave Bidini is one of the founding members of the Rheostatics. He is the only Canadian to have been nominated for a Genie, Gemini, JUNO, and CBC’s ‘Canada Reads’. Dave Bidini is Editor in Chief, President, and Chair of the Board of West End Phoenix.
Checking In with @waterkeepermark and Swim Drink Fish Ambassador Joseph Boyden
Mark is Checking In with Swim Drink Fish Ambassadors about living with social distancing. Here, Joseph Boyden answers Mark’s questions. Joseph Boyden is a Canadian writer, teacher, and public speaker. A member of the Order of Canada, his novels are published in 25 languages around the world and have won numerous national and international awards.
Checking In with @waterkeepermark and Swim Drink Fish Ambassador Jennifer Baichwal
Mark is Checking In with Swim Drink Fish Ambassadors about living with social distancing. Here, Jennifer Baichwal answers Mark’s questions.
Checking In with @waterkeepermark and Swim Drink Fish Ambassador Tanis Rideout
Mark Mattson is checking in with Swim Drink Fish Ambassadors about living with social distancing. Here, Tanis Rideout answers Mark’s questions.
Coronavirus detection: sample city sewage to help diagnose its presence and plan for preparedness
Why guess where the coronavirus is and how many people might be infected if we can use our wastewater systems to give us the facts?
Right now our communities, public policy experts, emergency services and planners want to know where and how far the coronavirus is spreading. Could we be sampling wastewater in our sewage systems to get that information?
Submission to Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan Committee
The Hamilton Harbour and Region Remedial Action Plan (HHRAP) team has released a report entitled Status Report on the Degradation of Aesthetics Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) XI in the Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan. The Report presents findings from aesthetic observations and makes the case that the status of this BUI be re-designated from “Impaired” to “Not Impaired.”
The Hamilton RAP Report suggests that Hamilton Harbour’s waters are now “free from persistent objectionable unnatural deposit, unnatural colour, objectionable odour, or unnatural turbidity (e.g., oil slick or surface scum).”
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper (“Waterkeeper”) does not agree with this assessment.
A Citizen’s Guide to the Wastewater Data Published on the Open Government Portal
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has taken a tremendous step towards public transparency concerning sewage pollution in Canada. The release of the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulation is key to inspiring change like the restoration of waters impacted by sewage pollution, and infrastructure upgrades in cities with combined sewer systems.
Waterkeeper's comments for the Nuclear Safety Commission's BWXT relicensing hearing
BWXT Nuclear Energy Canada (BWXT) operates nuclear processing facilities in Toronto and Peterborough. They supply fuel pellets for the Pickering and Darlington Nuclear Generating Stations. BWXT’s licence is set to expire later in 2020, and Waterkeeper prepared a report to help ensure any new licence issued by the CNSC Commission promotes the swimmability, drinkability, and fishability of the Lake Ontario watershed. We’ve posted a summary of our comments and the original submissions here.