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On February 3, the governments of Canada and Quebec announced a financial contribution of $1,381,530 to the municipality of Saint-Gédéon to consolidate its network of water distribution and wastewater collection systems, and $2,376,870 to the municipality of L’Ascension-de-Notre-Seigneur to consolidate its distribution network of drinking water and water waste collection systems. The funding is made available through the federal-provincial agreement of the Pipeline Renewal Program (PRECO). PRECO is a program that enables Quebec municipalities to carry out rehabilitation work or replace water mains and sewage systems.  
Source article – Government of Quebec, February 3, 2010
Source article – Government of Quebec, February 3, 2010

  I would like to welcome the County of Lethbridge as the newest member of AbWARN.  As our membership grows we can more effectively draw from the knowledge and resources of each other and have a more resilient water sector.  Welcome!

On January 14, Public Safety Canada’s Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre (CCIRC) released advisory AV10-005 to bring attention to multiple critical vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader 9.2 and Acrobat 9.2 for Windows, Macintosh and UNIX, and Adobe Reader 8.1.7 and Acrobat 8.1.7 for Windows and Macintosh. Adobe categorizes this as a critical update. CCIRC recommends that administrators identify affected products, test and deploy the provided updates according to their Release Management practices at the earliest opportunity.
Source article - Public Safety Canada, January 14, 2010

Further to Daily Infrastructure Report DIR10-008, later on January 12, CTV reported that the flood danger appeared to have passed for communities on Vancouver Island hit by a rain and melting snow. The B.C. River Forecast Centre downgraded the flood warnings for the Courtenay, Comox, Nanaimo and Campbell River areas to high streamflow advisories. The levels for several rivers, including the Puntledge, Browns and Tsolum rivers, were falling. There was some localized flooding and several roads were closed.
Source article – CTV, January 12, 2010
Source article – B.C. River Forecast Centre, January 12, 2010

On January 13, Public Safety Canada’s Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre (CCIRC) released advisory AV10-004 to bring attention to a critical patch update for Oracle products. The vendor “strongly recommends that customers apply CPU fixes as soon as possible” due to the threat posed by a successful attack. CCIRC recommends that administrators identify affected products, assess the need to update and identify potential dependencies.
Source article - Public Safety Canada, January 13, 2010

CTV reported that the Mayor of Courtenay, B.C., declared a state of emergency late on January 11 due to flooding of the Browns, Tsolum and Puntledge rivers on Vancouver Island. The area was pounded with heavy rains on January 11 from a tropical weather system originating from Hawaii that hit Canada’s west coast. A total of 43 people were evacuated from the Maple Pool Campsite on January 11, and some residents in the low level area had little mobility. Evacuees registered at the city’s emergency reception centre and, as part of the Provincial Emergency Program (PEP), they will remain in local hotels until they are allowed to return home. Some roads closed by the flooding have reopened, yet many areas are expected to remain shut down for at least another day. The declaration may be in place for up to seven days since unseasonably warm temperatures and heavy rains have melted high altitude snow packs, resulting in more water into the already high levels. Environment Canada ended its rainfall warning for Vancouver Island on January 12, predicting only light and scattered rains for January 13 and 14.
Source article - CTV, January 12, 2010

On January 12, the Government of Canada, the Government of New Brunswick and the City of Fredericton announced that the water and wastewater systems in Fredericton will receive $1.4 million in upgrades through a federal-provincial-city project. The Government of Canada is contributing $470,601 under the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, with matching contributions from the province and the city. The project will involve work on a drinking water distribution main and will improve wastewater maintenance.
Source article – The Government of New Brunswick, January 12, 2010

I have been receiving phone calls regarding the recent distribution of the Water and Wastewater Sector Pandemic Influenza Planning Guidelines, Alberta document.  In the guidelines it mentions assessing the capability of your mutual aid partnerships and sites AbWARN as an example.  Remember that while there is no cost to join AbWARN, and it is an information sharing, resource location, best practice site, that as the document says the guidelines are non-prescriptive.  You don’t have to join (although there is only benefit and no cost to join).

I look forward to building on the work that we have done with AbWARN to date and increasing the preparedness and resiliency of the water sector in Canada.

Happy New Year to all.

On January 5, the Government of Quebec announced a joint investment of $4,822,502 for drinking water infrastructure in the municipality of Sainte-Sabine, Quebec. The Municipality of Sainte-Sabine will add an additional $2,777,498 to the project for a total investment of $7,600,000.
Source article -  Government of Quebec, January 5, 2010

Further to Public Safety Canada Daily Infrastructure Report DIR09-238, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) issued an update on the number of deaths associated with the H1N1 flu virus in Canada. PHAC indicated that between December 10 and 15, 18 new deaths were reported across Canada: 3 in B.C., 2 in Alberta, 10 in Ontario and 3 in Quebec. The total cumulative deaths associated to the H1N1 flu virus in Canada is now 390.
Source article – Public Health Agency of Canada, December 15, 2009

PHAC provides more information about H1N1 flu virus, a weekly FluWatch report and an H1N1 preparedness guide.