I attended a half-day workshop on September 4th sponsored by the Ontario Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure (OCSI). I attended this event for several reasons – to discuss infrastructure issues, to make new contacts, to witness the OCSI model (more about this later) – but the main reason I attended was because of the name of the event, "Courageous Conversations".

Yahoo news is featuring a four-part series that explores the world’s expanding thirst for water and Canada’s role in quenching it. CWWA Executive Director Robert Haller wrote an article for the series that explores water regulation across Canada and the unique challenges faced by different regions and jurisdictions and the efforts to create national policies for such regional issues.

With only 5 weeks left to the popular 16th National Conference on Drinking Water we encourage everyone to register today as time and spots are filling up!

Former Executive Director T. Duncan Ellison was recently awarded the Standards Council of Canada’s prestigious Hugh Krentz Award. The Award recognizes exceptional leadership and contributions of an individual in Canada’s standardization network.

Duncan remains active in the development of national and international standards related ot water and wastewater services, and we congratulate him on this acheivement.

Commercial and industrial stakeholders in Toronto will soon have an opportunity to review proposed changes to the city’s Pollution Prevention (P2) Program and Sewers By-law, Municipal Code Chapter 681.

Notice of updated timelines for the draft screening assessment of phthalate substances was posted on the Chemical Substances website, August 15, 2014. The 14 phthalate substances included in this grouping are among those identified as priorities for action for the second phase of the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP).

Health Canada announced August 18, 2014, the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality-Guideline Technical Document-Ammonia (dated June 2013) has been posed online. It is not considered necessary to establish a health-based guideline for ammonia, based on its low toxicity at concentrations found in drinking water. Levels of ammonia, either naturally present in the source water or added as part of a disinfection strategy, can affect water quality in the distribution system (e.g., nitrification) and should be monitored.

Canada’s Premiers concluded their 55th annual summer meeting, August 29 in Charlottetown. The meetings began with a discussion on the opportunities and challenges facing the Canadian federation on the 150th anniversary of the Charlottetown Conference.

The Premiers remain committed to working together to create jobs and improve the economy in a competitive global climate while fostering a fair and inclusive society where citizens have access to public services and economic opportunities that support their well-being.

Three Canadian women won awards at this year’s American Water Works Association (AWWA) Annual Conference & Exposition, two for academic achievement and one for publications. The academic achievement awards recognize graduate students who have made outstanding contributions to the public water supply industry during their academic career. The publications award is given to recognize and honour the most notable contribution, scientific or practical, to the public water supply profession as published in the Journal AWWA. Although many well-known Canadians have won these awards in the past, winning three awards in one year is unprecedented and demonstrates the level of excellence and commitment of young professional women in Canada.

Canadian student Hayley Tedesco from Calgary has been awarded the 2014 Stockholm junior water prize! This is the second win for Canadian students at this prestigious international award.

According to a new CBC report a Canadian study quietly released last month reported record-breaking levels of three pharmaceuticals in river water in southwestern Ontario.

CWWA notes that while analytical methods continue to improve and detect substances at lower levels there is very little research about what the impacts on human or environmental health of these micro-contaminants are (if any). These micro-contaminants are becoming a growing concern and the Association and our members will need to work in lockstep with industry and researchers to determine what the impacts are to develop alternatives to ensure that drugs and personal care products are fully metabolized and when necessary to find cost effective technologies to remove them.

Alberta Environmment and Sustainable Resource Development (ESRD) has posted online a document concerning Preparing Water Shortage Response Plans. According to ESRD, the Water Shortage Response Plan (WSRP) provides a framework to help the project proponent (water licence applicant) take a proactive approach to water use, ensuring that all possible opportunities to cope with water shortage are considered in advance so that activities can be sustained during water shortage periods.

If a licence is granted, the WSRP becomes an operating plan recognized as a term and condition of the licence.

Manitoba’s Minister of Conservation and Water Stewardship, Gord Mackintosh, announced August 11, 2014, a "Don’t Move a Mussel’ campaign to address the presence of a zebra mussel infestation in Lake Winnipeg’s South Basin.

The minister also announced the province is developing new laws to address the transportation of water, introducing requirements to drain water before leaving a water body, and requiring watercraft be transported with the drain plug removed and all water from boat and bait containers drained. Enforcement powers and fine levels are also under review.

CSA Group posted online, August 12, 2014, a draft of ISO 37120 Sustainable development of communities - indicators for city services and quality of life (new international standard). ISO 37120 defines and establishes methodologies for a set of indicators to steer and measure the performance of city services and quality of life

The Alberta Onsite Wastewater Management Association (AOWMA) continues to work with the Edmonton Waste Management Centre of Excellence on a project to test the efficiency of CSA Group standard CSA B128.3 Standard for Water Reuse. The paper audit is complete and the test pad is being constructed in anticipation of the site audit on September 15, 2014.

The Canadian Water and Wastewater Association is pleased to announce its partnership with SanEcoTec Ltd. in naming AVIVE™ Water, for the 16th Canadian Conference on Drinking Water.

CWWA is pleased to be partnering with Atomic Water to bring our delegates at the 1th National Drinking Water Conference our first ever mobile app.

The generous support of our sponsors, exhibitors and in-kind supporters is vital to making CWWA events successful! We'd like to thank everyone who has supported the 16th National Conference on Drinking Water so far. There are still limited opportunities left for anyone still interested in supporting the event and accessing our fantastic range of delegates.

Bloomberg
The ancient Greeks used clay and stone; the Romans, sponges and salt water. Americans made do with rags, newspapers or mail-order catalogs until 1890 when the Scott brothers popularized toilet paper on a roll.

News / Canada
Canada is part of an international initiative to develop an industry-wide standard on flushable wipes. Barry Orr, a waste-water expert from London, Ont. and spokesperson for the Municipal Enforcement Sewer Use Group (MESUG), is helping a work group with the International Standards Organization (ISO) in Geneva to develop the standard.

Calgary Herald
Landowners west of Calgary are gearing up for what could be a protracted battle with the Alberta government over its bid to build a massive, off-stream reservoir in Springbank to mitigate future flooding in communities downstream.

Financial Post
The Southern Ontario Water Consortium, or SOWC, is leading global research efforts that promise to change the status quo in water management. Its flagship project is a living lab in the form of the Grand River, the largest inland river system in Southern Ontario. There, data is being collected, integrated and used to help urban planners, academics and product developers understand watershed behaviour and bring viable solutions to the table.

Ottawa Citizen
Researchers say tiny balls of plastic typically used in personal care and hygiene products are rapidly building up in Canadian lakes and rivers.

Regina Leader Post
For the mayor of North Bay, Ont., it's all about protecting the city's sole source of drinking water from a pipeline spill. When TransCanada Corp. files a regulatory application later this month for its $12-billion Energy East pipeline, Al McDonald says he'll be looking for assurances that Trout Lake, and the creeks that feed into it, won't be harmed by an oil spill.

Regina Leader Post
They've lived in the same watershed, struggled with the same water quality issues, and been similarly frustrated by the government's response. On Wednesday night, they finally came together to contemplate: What's next? Cottagers, farmers, municipal leaders and First Nation members who live along the Lower Qu'Appelle watershed might not have found their answer at one meeting, but they did find common ground.

The Western Star
ACAP Humber Arm will launch the ninth season of its Coastal Matters speakers series on Sept. 11 with a presentation entitled "A Holistic Approach to Water Loss Control."
Carl Yates, general manager of Halifax Water, will talk about how Halifax Water has had success in water loss control.

Blackburn News
They’ve turned the sod in Owen Sound today to mark the start of construction on the upgrades at the wastewater treatment plant.

Kitchener Waterloo Record
A judge has dismissed a lawsuit that challenged Durham Region’s practice of supplementing municipal water supplies with fluoride.

Water Online
A Q&A with David Miller, president and CEO for World Wildlife Fund Canada

Lexology.com
Health Canada is conducting a consultation on a report recently released by the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Committee on Drinking Water ("CDW") in July 2014 (the "Report") that proposes lowering the maximum acceptable concentration ("MAC") in water of a chemical, commonly used in dry-cleaning, grain fumigation and other industrial applications.

Water Online
The Prince William County Service Authority carefully considers its impact to the environment when conducting wastewater treatment. Recently, the Environmental Services and Water Reclamation Division and the Geographic Information Systems Department completed a pilot project in which they charted where stormwater flows at the Service Authority’s wastewater treatment plant in Woodbridge.

Water Online
"With great power comes great responsibility." Whether you recognize the quote from Voltaire (1832) or Spider-Man (2002), it is an enduring truth. And while the world of water/wastewater may not excite like a superhero, the work is important. In early 2014, Eileen O’Neill inherited important responsibility by becoming the executive director of the Water Environment Federation (WEF).

Water Canada
Public-private partnerships (P3s) are still a relatively new concept in Canada, and employing them to deliver water and wastewater projects can be confusing for the general public. But with Regina’s pro-P3 referendum in September 2013, is the public perception of water and wastewater P3s changing?

Water Online
The federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently called out the EPA for not doing enough to protect drinking water from risks posed by oil and gas companies