AbWARN.org

On November 25, the Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office recommended that residents in some flood-prone areas of the province monitor weather conditions and take appropriate precautions to protect their property against possible flooding over the next few days. The recommendation was issued after Environment Canada predicted heavy rainfall and above freezing temperatures for some areas—the heaviest rains predicted for southwestern Nova Scotia. The heavy rainfall coupled with the melting snow could cause flooding conditions.
Source article – Government of Nova Scotia, 25 November 2008

On November 17, B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner announced the purchase of a new domestic satellite data retrieval system (DOMSAT), which will reduce the time needed to retrieve critical weather, snow and river data used to warn British Columbians about potential flooding. Mr. Penner indicated that the new system would provide information one to six hours faster than currently available systems.
Source article – Government of British Columbia, 17 November 2008

On November 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) released their latest version of the report entitled: H5N1 avian influenza: Timeline of major events.
(Source: WHO, 11 November 2008)
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A blocked sewage system forced the University of Lethbridge to evacuate staff and students from the campus on Tuesday.  By Tuesday evening, school officials said the blocked pipe has been cleared and classes will resume on Wednesday as scheduled.

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Further to Public Safety Canada Daily Infrastructure Report DIR08-211, on November 1,
Transport Québec announced that the detour around a break on Highway 138 in the Minganie region of the province would open at 23:00. EDT.
(Source: Government of Quebec1 November 2008)
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On October 29, Radio-Canada reported that flooding on the Pigou River caused a break in a section of Highway 138 in the North Shore region of Quebec. Since Highway 138 is the only link between Sept-Îles and the Minganie region, residents east of Sept-Îles have been isolated. A spokesperson for Transport Quebec indicated that the repairs could take up to two days. The spokesperson also indicated that the department was studying the possibility of installing a temporary road around the break.
(Source: Radio-Canada, 29 October 2008)
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For those of you who are working on security guidelines for your water or wastewater facilities, there are some excellent documents from the Water Infrastructure Security Enhancements (WISE) project.  The documents can be found on the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) site (link below), and are well worth looking at.

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On October 14, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach andAlberta Solicitor General and Minister of Public Security Fred Lindsay announced the development of a new province-wide networked radio system for emergency responders. The development of the new system is to begin in 2009 and be fully operational by 2012.
(Source: Government of Alberta, 14 October 2008)
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  There have been some new items posted in the member’s area which include: the powerpoint and word documents from the recent WCWWA conference in Regina where I gave a short presentation on AbWARN; a new pamphlet telling about AbWARN.  Members may use this information if they need to make presentations on, or just want more information about, AbWARN.

Layton’s trip north comes on the heels of two recent conferences on northern water quality. The most recent conference wrapped up Thursday in Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., while another conference took place in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., in August.

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