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Ontario - Region’s Commissioner of Public Works reports that a quantity of diesel went in the water as a tug was refuelling at the dry dock near Wharf 16, south of Clarence Street Bridge.  Booms have been set up around the spill, boat and the intake at the city’s water treatment plant.

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Manitoba Premier Gerg Selinger indicated that damage from the heavy rain on May 29-30 across southern Manitoba will total over $1 million. Selinger has promised disaster financial assistance to help homeowners deal with flooded land, and to help municipalities repair washed-out roads and other infrastructure. The Province of Manitoba has doubled the cap for overland flooding compensation to $200,000 through the Disaster Financial Assistance Program. The worst-hit community was Emerson, near the U.S. border, which declared a state of emergency on May 30 due to flooded basements and roads. The rainfall has also raised the level of the Red River and prompted officials to activate the floodway, a 48-kilometre channel that diverts water around the eastern side of Winnipeg.
Source article – CBC, May 31, 2010
Source article – Radio-Canada, May 31, 2010

On May 30, media reported that homeowners, public works crews and emergency responders in southern Manitoba were beginning a major cleanup after severe thunderstorms affected the region on May 29-30. Environment Canada indicated that 53 millimetres of rain fell on Winnipeg on May 29 and several major streets remain closed because of flooding. The towns of Portage la Prairie and Emerson each recorded record amounts of rainfall. Emerson has declared a state of emergency because of the damage done to property in the community. Provincial flood officials are keeping a close eye on water levels on major rivers and will soon have to decide whether to open the gates of the Red River Floodway to protect Winnipeg homes from flooding. The province has decided to operate the Portage Diversion to reduce the flow in the Assiniboine River. The diversion redirects some of the water in the Assiniboine to a 29-kilometre-long diversion channel that empties into Lake Manitoba. In southwest Manitoba, felled power lines and direct lightning strikes on power equipment left about 4,000 homes and businesses without power on May 29. Areas in and around Brandon, Portage la Prairie, Reston, Melita, Pipestone and Hartney were affected by the severe weather.
Source article – CBC, May 30, 2010
Source article – Radio-Canada, May 30, 2010

On May 28, Public Safety Canada announced the National Strategy and Action Plan for Critical Infrastructure, which was developed in partnership with federal and provincial/territorial governments and owners and operators in ten critical infrastructure sectors. It will:

• identify how each critical infrastructure sector is connected to the others so Canada can take action to help prevent an emergency or disaster in one sector from affecting the others
• develop plans to address risks to Canada’s critical infrastructure sectors
• test those plans to know they will work when a disaster does occur

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews stated that it will “strengthen our ability to protect vital assets and systems, such as electricity grids, transportation networks, financial systems and telecommunications,” and “will also strengthen our collective readiness to respond and recover from emergencies, attacks and disasters.”
Source article – Public Safety Canada, May 28, 2010

USEPA’s Office of Water is sponsoring a second Water Laboratory Alliance Security Summit in June. The WLA provides the water sector with a nationwide network of laboratories capable of processing a surge of samples in the event of a drinking water contamination event. Attendees will learn about WLA Programmatic elements, practice the WLA Response Plan for water contamination incident response and gain hands-on experience with USEPA security-related tools and resources. The summit will take place June 16-17 in San Francisco; registration is free and can be accessed on-line.

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After making emergency repairs to the main aqueduct providing drinking water to the Boston area, Massachusetts authorities turned to forensics to find the culprit that put 2 million residents under a boil-water order for 59 hours.

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Nashville, Tenn., officials are urging its half million residents to cut usage in half because the city has lost the service of the newer of its two water treatment plants to a thousand-year flood.

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On April 27, the Manitoba Water Stewardship issued a Last Daily Report for monitoring of the Red, Assiniboine and Souris river levels. Red River levels continue to decline rapidly, levels of the Assiniboine River from Portage la Prairie to west Winnipeg have increased by up to one foot due to shutting down the Portage Diversion and minor flooding of haylands along the Souris River near Coulter will continue for another two weeks.
Source article – Manitoba Water Stewardship, April 27, 2010

On March 22, Environment Canada announced an investment by the Government of Canada in water quality research at the Universities of Lethbridge and Saskatchewan. It will be in partnership with Western Economic Diversification. The investment totals $3.75 million and will go towards research projects that will ultimately assist organizations in making environmentally responsible decisions aimed at preserving water quality. Environment Canada will provide more than $1.5 million of in-kind support and Western Economic Diversification will provide $2.25 million. The projects complement Environment Canada’s commitment to the Global Environment Monitoring System Water Programme (GEMS/Water) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), an international water science program that develops and maintains a global freshwater quality information system for use by all United Nations members.
Source article – Environment Canada, March 22, 2010

On March 19, Environment Canada announced that proposed Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations have been released for public consultation. They propose regulations for municipal, community, federal and other wastewater systems, which include standards for national wastewater effluent quality and provide regulatory clarity for rules on reporting for more than 3,700 Canadian facilities. For higher risk wastewater effluent discharges, facilities will have up until 2020 to upgrade, whereas others will have until 2030 or 2040 depending on the level of risk. The regulations are the principal instrument that Environment Canada is using to implement the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) Canada-wide Strategy for the Management of Municipal Wastewater that was endorsed in 2009. This strategy involves the Government of Canada partnering with provinces, territories and municipalities to make significant investments in water and wastewater infrastructure.
Source article – Environment Canada, March 19, 2010